From left: Friedrich Merz, CDU federal chairman and CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Michael Kretschmer (CDU), Minister President of Saxony and Mario Voigt, CDU state chairman in Thuringia, attend the CDU committee meeting following the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
Sahra Wagenknecht, party leader of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), arrives for a press conference after the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 1, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)
From left: Friedrich Merz, CDU federal chairman and CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag, Michael Kretschmer (CDU), Minister President of Saxony and Mario Voigt, CDU state chairman in Thuringia, pose for a picture during a meeting after the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, in Berlin, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)
Bjoern Hoecke, top candidate in Thuringia of the far-right Alternative for Germany, walks through the state parliament in Erfurt, Sunday, Sept, 1, 2024. (Jacob Schr'ter/dpa via AP)
Björn Höcke, party and parliamentary group leader of the AfD in Thuringia and top candidate, leaves the AfD election party in Erfurt, Germany, Monday Sept. 2, 2024. (Daniel Vogl/dpa via AP)
Saskia Esken co-party leader of Chancellor Olaf Scholze's Social Democratic Party, SPD, speaks to media at the party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, became the first far-right party to win a state election in post-World War II Germany in Thuringia on Sunday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)