Donald Trump and MAGA allies endorse AfD after 43.8% Saxony-Anhalt election win

Trump endorses German regional election outcome

US President Donald Trump publicly praised the Alternative for Germany (AfD) following the party's victory in the Saxony-Anhalt state election. Writing on his Truth Social platform two days after Sunday's vote, Trump stated that the populist movement in Germany had experienced a significant evening after voters rejected existing immigration rules. He declared that the party was ascending and would no longer accept established migration policies, concluding his post with the acronym MGGA, an adaptation of his Make America Great Again slogan. On election night, Trump had earlier published a graphic of a 19:57 television projection showing the AfD at 44.4% without accompanying text. The AfD secured 43.8% of the vote on Sunday, more than doubling its share from the 2021 state election, while the governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) dropped to 17.2%.

THEY ARE ON THE RISE, and will not take it anymore.

Support across the American MAGA movement

Trump's endorsement was accompanied by praise from prominent figures within his political network. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk posted his congratulations on X in response to AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, who had celebrated lead candidate Ulrich Siegmund's performance. Richard Grenell, who served as US ambassador to Berlin during Trump's first presidential term, described the result as a big win and a new day for Germany. Grenell stated on social media that German voters were seeking change regardless of political labels. These reactions follow years of alignment between the party and the US administration since Trump took office in January 2025.

The people are ready for change, no matter what it is called.

Deepening ties between AfD and Washington

Relations between the AfD and Trump's political circle have expanded across multiple events over the preceding eighteen months. Alice Weidel described Trump as a role model following his return to the White House, and party representatives traveled to Washington for his presidential inauguration in January 2025. In February 2025, US Vice President JD Vance met Weidel on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where he cautioned German leaders against maintaining political firewalls to exclude populist parties. In December 2025, several AfD lawmakers from the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament attended a MAGA gathering in New York.

Coalition hurdles and security discussions

Despite winning 43.8% of the vote, the AfD fell short of an absolute majority in the Magdeburg state parliament, leaving government formation uncertain. Mainstream parties represented in the legislature, including the CDU, Social Democratic Party (SPD), Greens, and The Left, ruled out entering a coalition with the AfD, which state domestic intelligence classifies as a confirmed right-wing extremist entity. The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) announced it would not vote for an AfD or CDU minister-president, though it indicated openness to supporting an AfD minority administration on selected policy measures. Ulrich Siegmund stated he will only enter a vote for minister-president if he secures a stable parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, North Rhine-Westphalia Premier Hendrik Wüst called for a federal-state working group to review policy toward the party, as intelligence officials led by Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution President Sinan Selen scheduled discussions in Stuttgart to establish safeguards against potential intelligence leaks to Russia.