Sepp Müller pushes back after Merz rebuke in CDU leadership race

Sepp Müller, a 37-year-old deputy leader of the Union parliamentary group, is running to become the new CDU state chairman in Saxony-Anhalt, following the party's poor election result. He has publicly rejected Chancellor Friedrich Merz's criticism of his remarks about the Left party before the Magdeburg election. Müller drew Merz's ire by suggesting before the state election that the AfD's Ulrich Siegmund would have a mandate to form a government if polls held. Merz publicly rebuked him without naming him, saying it was unacceptable to undermine the party's top candidate days before the vote. Müller responded that he disagreed with Merz and that most of the state party backed him. Müller has been a Bundestag member since 2017 and won his direct mandate in Dessau-Wittenberg with 34.3 percent, the CDU's best first-vote result in eastern Germany. He is married to CSU MP Wolfgang Stefinger and has a son. He has also been critical of the Left party, notably holding up a book during a speech by Gregor Gysi.