Hof (electoral district)

238 Hof
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Hof in 2025
State	Bavaria
Population	210,600 (2019)
Electorate	162,872 (2021)
Major settlements	Hof Marktredwitz Selb
Area	1,541.3 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CSU
Member	Hans-Peter Friedrich
Elected	2002, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Hof 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 238. It is located in northeastern Bavaria, comprising the city of Hof and the districts of Landkreis Hof and Wunsiedel.

Hof was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2002, it has been represented by Hans-Peter Friedrich of the Christian Social Union (CSU).

Geography

Hof is located in northeastern Bavaria. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Hof, the Wunsiedel district, and the entirety of the Hof district excluding the municipality of Geroldsgrün.

History

Hof was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Bavaria constituency 28 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 223. In the 1965 through 1998 elections, it was number 225. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 240. In the 2009 through 2021 elections, it was number 239. From the 2025 election, it has been number 238.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent cities of Hof and Selb and the districts of Landkreis Hof, Münchberg, and Rehau. In the 1965 through 1972 elections, it also contained the Naila district. In the 1976 through 2013 elections, it comprised the city of Hof and the districts of Landkreis Hof and Wunsiedel. It lost the municipality of Geroldsgrün in the 2017 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	28	Hof	Hof city Selb city Landkreis Hof district Münchberg district Rehau district
1953	223
1957
1961
1965	225		Hof city Selb city Landkreis Hof district Münchberg district Rehau district Naila district
1969
1972
1976			Hof city Landkreis Hof district Wunsiedel district
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	240
2005
2009	239
2013
2017			Hof city Landkreis Hof district (excluding Geroldsgrün municipality) Wunsiedel district
2021
2025	238

Members

The constituency was first represented by Arno Behrisch of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1949 to 1953. Heinz Starke won it in 1953; he was elected for the Free Democratic Party (FDP) with the endorsement of the Christian Social Union (CSU). Gerhard Wacher of the CSU was elected in 1957 and served until 1961. Martin Hirsch of the SPD won the constituency in 1961 and served three terms. He was succeeded by Hans Büchler from 1972 to 1983. Jürgen Warnke of the CSU then served from 1983 to 1998, when Petra Ernstberger of the SPD was elected. Hans-Peter Friedrich of the CSU was elected in 2002, and re-elected in 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Arno Behrisch	SPD	35.0
	1953	Heinz Starke	FDP	44.6
	1957	Gerhard Wacher	CSU	46.5
	1961	Martin Hirsch	SPD	44.0
	1965			46.8
	1969			45.8
	1972	Hans Büchler	SPD	52.0
	1976			48.7
	1980			48.3
	1983	Jürgen Warnke	CSU	54.2
	1987			51.5
	1990			52.1
	1994			50.4
	1998	Petra Ernstberger	SPD	49.5
	2002	Hans-Peter Friedrich	CSU	53.6
	2005			50.1
	2009			46.5
	2013			55.1
	2017			47.0
	2021			41.2

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Hof
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 Hans-Peter Friedrich		51,312	41.2	5.8	41,308	33.2	5.6
	SPD	Jörg Nürnberger		29,763	23.9	0.4	30,426	24.4	2.3
	AfD	Gerd Kögler		14,705	11.8	0.0	14,560	11.7	1.5
	Greens	Ralf Reusch		7,941	6.4	1.7	9,628	7.7	2.2
	FW	Thomas Schinner		7,202	5.8	3.1	7,955	6.4	3.8
	FDP	Gabriel Wölfel		6,493	5.2	1.5	10,552	8.5	0.6
	Left	Janson Damasceno da Costa e Silva		2,651	2.1	2.3	3,004	2.4	3.3
	Tierschutzpartei						1,780	1.4	0.4
	PARTEI	Steffen Pokorny		1,969	1.6	0.6	1,268	1.0	0.0
	dieBasis	Walter Kunisch		1,498	1.2		1,339	1.1
	Team Todenhöfer						399	0.3
	Pirates						374	0.3	0.1
	ÖDP	Roland Müller		508	0.4		318	0.3	0.0
	BP						295	0.2	0.0
	Bündnis C	Verena Thümmel		314	0.3	0.0	255	0.2
	Unabhängige						228	0.2
	NPD						172	0.1	0.3
	Gesundheitsforschung						164	0.1	0.0
	Volt						115	0.1
	The III. Path						109	0.1
	Humanists						106	0.1
	Independent	Martin Löhnert		99	0.1
	V-Partei3						80	0.1	0.1
	du.						63	0.0
	LKR						30	0.0
	MLPD						16	0.0	0.0
	DKP						15	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				879			775
Total valid votes				124,455			124,559
Turnout				125,334	77.0	1.2
	CSU hold		Majority	21,549	17.3	6.2

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Hof
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 Hans-Peter Friedrich		59,182	47.0	8.1	48,772	38.8	8.1
	SPD	Jörg Nürnberger		29,641	23.6	5.0	27,775	22.1	4.5
	AfD	Michael Wüst		14,893	11.8	8.3	16,605	13.2	8.8
	Greens	Klaus Schrader		5,936	4.7	0.8	6,989	5.6	0.2
	Left	Ulrike-Judith Dierkes-Morsy		5,560	4.4	0.1	7,185	5.7	0.9
	FDP	Klaus Horn		4,716	3.7	2.4	9,890	7.9	4.1
	FW	Hans Martin Grötsch		3,362	2.7		3,301	2.6	0.4
	Tierschutzpartei						1,284	1.0	0.1
	PARTEI	Carsten Warnke		1,253	1.0		1,260	1.0
	NPD						565	0.4	0.8
	Pirates			957	0.8		498	0.4	1.5
	ÖDP						381	0.3	0.1
	Bündnis C	Verena Thümmel		358	0.3
	BP						343	0.3	0.2
	V-Partei³						197	0.2
	BGE						184	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						176	0.1
	DM						172	0.1
	DiB						147	0.1
	MLPD						34	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						18	0.0	0.0
	DKP						16	0.0
Informal votes				1,060			1,126
Total valid votes				125,858			125,792
Turnout				126,918	75.7	7.7
	CSU hold		Majority	29,541	23.4	3.1

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Hof
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 Hans-Peter Friedrich		64,888	55.1	8.6	55,219	46.9	5.4
	SPD	Petra Ernstberger		33,731	28.6	1.4	31,406	26.7	3.2
	Greens	Elisabeth Scharfenberg		6,449	5.5	2.0	6,315	5.4	1.6
	Left	Ulrike Dierkes-Morse		5,264	4.5	3.6	5,619	4.8	3.7
	AfD	Hermann Klie		4,168	3.5		5,109	4.3
	NPD	Moroni Blankenburg		1,722	1.5	1.0	1,461	1.2	0.7
	FDP	Stefan Quehl		1,527	1.3	6.4	4,418	3.8	7.5
	FW						2,598	2.2
	Pirates						2,257	1.9	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,030	0.9	0.1
	BP						597	0.5	0.1
	ÖDP						504	0.4	0.0
	REP						446	0.4	0.4
	DIE FRAUEN						235	0.2
	Party of Reason						156	0.1
	PRO						107	0.1
	DIE VIOLETTEN						87	0.1	0.1
	RRP						40	0.0	0.5
	MLPD						19	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						14	0.0	0.1
Informal votes				1,089			1,201
Total valid votes				117,749			117,637
Turnout				118,838	68.1	1.7
	CSU hold		Majority	31,157	26.5	7.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Hof
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 Hans-Peter Friedrich		57,632	46.5	3.7	51,661	41.5	2.6
	SPD	Petra Ernstberger		33,763	27.2	9.9	29,265	23.5	9.4
	Left	Klaus Bruno Engelhardt		9,994	8.1	4.3	10,550	8.5	4.1
	FDP	Stefan Quehl		9,604	7.7	4.4	14,036	11.3	3.0
	Greens	Elisabeth Scharfenberg		9,302	7.5	4.2	8,678	7.0	2.0
	NPD	Harald Bestehorn		3,094	2.5	0.2	2,458	2.0	0.1
	Pirates						2,248	1.8
	Tierschutzpartei						1,005	0.8
	FAMILIE						999	0.8	0.1
	REP						916	0.7	0.3
	Independent	Heinz Wunderlich		650	0.5
	RRP						612	0.5
	PBC						511	0.4	0.2
	BP						487	0.4	0.0
	ÖDP						484	0.4
	DIE VIOLETTEN						167	0.1
	CM						111	0.1
	DVU						93	0.1
	BüSo						49	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						31	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,057			1,735
Total valid votes				124,039			124,361
Turnout				126,096	69.8	6.1
	CSU hold		Majority	23,869	19.3	6.2