Bamberg (electoral district)

For the English village, see Bamburgh.

Bamberg is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 235. It is located in northern Bavaria, comprising the city of Bamberg, the southern part of the Landkreis Bamberg district, and the western part of the Forchheim district.

235 Bamberg
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Bamberg in 2025
State	Bavaria
Population	241,100 (2019)
Electorate	182,586 (2021)
Major settlements	Bamberg Forchheim
Area	1,003.1 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CSU
Member	Thomas Silberhorn
Elected	2002, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Bamberg was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2002, it has been represented by Thomas Silberhorn of the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Geography

Bamberg is located in northern Bavaria. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Bamberg, the municipalities of Altendorf, Buttenheim, Frensdorf, Hallstadt, Hirschaid, Pettstadt, Pommersfelden, Schlüsselfeld, Stegaurach, Strullendorf, and Walsdorf and the Verwaltungsgemeinschaften of Burgebrach, Ebrach, and Lisberg from the Landkreis Bamberg district, and the municipalities of Eggolsheim, Forchheim, Hallerndorf, Hausen, Heroldsbach, Igensdorf, Langensendelbach, and Neunkirchen am Brand and the Verwaltungsgemeinschaften of Dormitz, Effeltrich, Gosberg, and Kirchehrenbach from the Forchheim district.

History

Bamberg was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Bavaria constituency 24 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 219. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 222. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 237. In the 2009 through 2021 elections, it was number 236. From the 2025 election, it has been number 235.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Bamberg and the districts of Landkreis Bamberg and Staffelstein. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it also contained the Höchstadt an der Aisch district. In the 1976 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Bamberg, southern parts of the Landkreis Bamberg district, and the Forchheim district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	24	Bamberg	Bamberg city Landkreis Bamberg district Staffelstein district
1953	219
1957
1961
1965	222		Bamberg city Landkreis Bamberg district Staffelstein district Höchstadt an der Aisch district
1969
1972
1976			Bamberg city Landkreis Bamberg district (only southern parts) Forchheim district
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	237		Bamberg city Landkreis Bamberg district (only Altendorf, Buttenheim, Frensdorf, Hallstadt, Hirschaid, Pettstadt, Pommersfelden, Schlüsselfeld, Stegaurach, Strullendorf, and Walsdorf municipalities and Burgebrach, Ebrach, and Lisberg Verwaltungsgemeinschaften) Forchheim district (only Eggolsheim, Forchheim, Hallerndorf, Hausen, Heroldsbach, Igensdorf, Langensendelbach, and Neunkirchen am Brand municipalities and Dormitz, Effeltrich, Gosberg, and Kirchehrenbach Verwaltungsgemeinschaften)
2005
2009	236
2013
2017
2021
2025	235

Members

Like most constituencies in rural Bavaria, it is an CSU safe seat, the party holding the seat continuously since its creation. It was first represented by Emil Kemmer from 1949 to 1965, followed by Paul Röhner from 1965 to 1983. Gerhard Scheu was then representative from 1983 to 2002. Thomas Silberhorn was elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Emil Kemmer	CSU	33.0
	1953			54.4
	1957			63.1
	1961			62.7
	1965	Paul Röhner	CSU	63.0
	1969			64.5
	1972			65.2
	1976			68.4
	1980			66.7
	1983	Gerhard Scheu	CSU	67.3
	1987			64.0
	1990			59.3
	1994			56.8
	1998			54.6
	2002	Thomas Silberhorn	CSU	60.7
	2005			57.4
	2009			49.1
	2013			52.2
	2017			42.1
	2021			37.0

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Bamberg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CSU	Y Thomas Silberhorn		54,726	37.0	5.1	49,463	33.4	5.5
	SPD	Andreas Schwarz		28,123	19.0	1.4	25,698	17.4	1.8
	Greens	Lisa Badum		22,728	15.4	6.2	21,898	14.8	4.9
	AfD	Michael Weiß		13,279	9.0	2.5	14,284	9.6	3.1
	FDP	Sven Bachmann		9,821	6.6	0.1	14,336	9.7	0.1
	FW	Jens Herzog		8,708	5.9	3.0	9,184	6.2	3.8
	Left	Jan Jaegers		3,625	2.5	2.8	4,676	3.2	3.3
	dieBasis	Sabine Wezel		2,361	1.6		2,093	1.4
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,499	1.0	0.1
	PARTEI	Paul Mari		1,627	1.1		1,111	0.8	0.2
	ÖDP	Lisa Lösel		1,287	0.9	0.5	742	0.5	0.2
	Volt	Hans-Günter Brünker		726	0.5		575	0.4
	Pirates						514	0.3	0.0
	BP	Thomas Dotzler		491	0.3	0.2	381	0.3	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						319	0.2
	Unabhängige						262	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						211	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						173	0.1
	V-Partei3						149	0.1	0.1
	NPD						127	0.1	0.3
	The III. Path						108	0.1
	Bündnis C						105	0.1
	du.						70	0.0
	MLPD	Therese Gmelch		179	0.1	0.1	50	0.0	0.0
	Independent	Andreas Roensch		114	0.1
	LKR						23	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				865			592
Total valid votes				147,795			148,068
Turnout				148,660	81.4	1.9
	CSU hold		Majority	26,603	18.0	3.7

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Bamberg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CSU	Y Thomas Silberhorn		60,675	42.1	10.1	56,138	38.9	10.0
	SPD	Andreas Schwarz		29,475	20.4	2.4	22,529	15.6	4.2
	AfD	Jan Schiffers		16,603	11.5	8.2	18,392	12.7	8.6
	Greens	Lisa Badum		13,194	9.2	1.0	14,279	9.9	0.9
	FDP	Sebastian Körber		9,364	6.5	3.1	13,776	9.5	4.7
	Left	David Klanke		7,504	5.2	1.7	9,351	6.5	2.4
	FW	Daniela Saiko		4,203	2.9	0.1	3,425	2.4	0.5
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,305	0.9	0.1
	PARTEI						1,303	0.9
	ÖDP	Lucas Büchner		1,942	1.3		947	0.7	0.0
	BP	Thomas Dotzler		821	0.6		622	0.4	0.0
	NPD						566	0.4	0.9
	Pirates						480	0.3	2.0
	DM						285	0.2
	V-Partei³						246	0.2
	DiB						234	0.2
	BGE						204	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						188	0.1
	MLPD	Therese Gmelch		352	0.2		110	0.1	0.0
	BüSo						25	0.0	0.0
	DKP						16	0.0
Informal votes				1,089			801
Total valid votes				144,133			144,421
Turnout				145,222	79.6	9.1
	CSU hold		Majority	31,200	21.7	7.6

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Bamberg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CSU	Y Thomas Silberhorn		65,723	52.2	3.2	61,546	48.9	4.0
	SPD	Andreas Schwarz		28,794	22.9	2.4	24,924	19.8	4.5
	Greens	Wolfgang Grader		10,283	8.2	1.0	11,267	8.9	1.6
	Left	Wolfgang Böhme		4,365	3.5	2.5	5,143	4.1	2.4
	FDP	Sebastian Körber		4,252	3.4	7.3	6,073	4.8	8.9
	AfD	Franz Hermann Eibl		4,222	3.4		5,211	4.1
	FW	Peter Korbinian Dorscht		3,549	2.8		3,559	2.8
	Pirates	Robert Streng		3,025	2.4		2,905	2.3	0.1
	NPD	Sven Diem		1,661	1.3	0.2	1,619	1.3	0.1
	Human Environment Animal Protection						964	0.8	0.1
	ÖDP						792	0.6	0.0
	REP						586	0.5	1.0
	BP						570	0.5	0.1
	DIE FRAUEN						319	0.3
	DIE VIOLETTEN						139	0.1	0.1
	Party of Reason						131	0.1
	PRO						82	0.1
	MLPD						60	0.0	0.0
	RRP						40	0.0	0.5
	BüSo						19	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				995			920
Total valid votes				125,874			125,949
Turnout				126,869	70.5	2.3
	CSU hold		Majority	36,929	29.3	0.6

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Bamberg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CSU	Y Thomas Silberhorn		62,548	49.1	8.3	57,433	44.9	5.6
	SPD	Andreas Schwarz		26,044	20.4	3.4	19,553	15.3	8.5
	FDP	Sebastian Körber		13,590	10.7	5.3	17,523	13.7	4.6
	Greens	Lisa Badum		11,726	9.2	1.1	13,512	10.6	2.8
	Left	Heinrich Schwimmbeck		7,601	6.0		8,316	6.5	3.0
	Pirates						3,041	2.4
	REP	Joseph Lorenz		2,213	1.7		1,937	1.5	0.2
	NPD	Axel Michaelis		1,899	1.5	1.7	1,759	1.4	0.3
	FAMILIE						1,061	0.8	0.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						790	0.6
	BP	Thomas Dotzler		1,562	1.2		770	0.6	0.2
	ÖDP						754	0.6
	RRP						714	0.6
	Independent	Monika Lamprecht		303	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						244	0.2
	PBC						188	0.1	0.1
	CM						138	0.1
	MLPD						58	0.0	0.0
	DVU						55	0.0
	BüSo						33	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,563			1,170
Total valid votes				127,486			127,879
Turnout				129,049	72.8	5.5
	CSU hold		Majority	36,504	28.7	4.9