The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, does not have a straightforward path to governing Saxony-Anhalt, but a small populist party could clear the way.
Page A3From§Eachthe early bird edition — 7 September 2026
THE FIREWALL
AfD, branded extremist by its state's spy agency, wins that state anyway and thanks Musk for the help.
As it ran on the front
Two days before Saxony-Anhalt went to the polls, the state's own intelligence agency put its finding on the record: AfD Saxony-Anhalt is a racist extremist group. That finding didn't come from a rival party or an opinion page — it came from the government's own domestic-security desk. Voters went to the polls anyway on Sunday, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz was shocked by what came back, according to CBS News: a landslide, the party's own "dream result."
The AfD still can't govern outright. The New York Times reports it needs a small populist party to clear the last stretch to power in Saxony-Anhalt. But the number that traveled past Germany's border by Monday morning wasn't the seat count — it was the signal. The Times reports the win has handed "fresh momentum" to hard-right parties elsewhere in Europe, with elections coming next year. Saxony and Thuringia did a version of this first, in 2024, when Thuringia elected a far-right plurality — the first state win for the far right since World War II. Saxony-Anhalt just repeated it, past a firewall the country has held for decades specifically to stop it.…
…(cont) The winning candidate's victory statement included a specific thank-you. Ulrich Siegmund thanked Elon Musk, by name, for his "support and... clear and highly important perspective on the political developments of our time — including here in Germany." Whatever that support looked like from Musk's end, it was public enough, and specific enough, for Siegmund to put a name on it on the record, the same day the votes came in.
Germany built its firewall because it had already lived through what happens when the far right wins a plurality and an opening. Nothing in that firewall got voted down or struck down in court this weekend. It just met a number bigger than the agreement meant to hold it — a number an American billionaire was publicly thanked for, by the man that agreement was built to stop.
“You want to know what a platform can buy? A landslide for a party its own state's spy agency calls extremist, plus a public thank-you card with the billionaire's name on it. Elon Musk didn't need a party card or a German passport to help crack a decades-old firewall — he needed a feed people believed, and Saxony-Anhalt just proved it works.”
“One state agency slapping a label on a party isn't a conviction, it's a label, and voters clearly weren't buying the label — that's just democracy doing its job. As for Musk, a guy's allowed an opinion about an election overseas, it's not like he bought the outcome — well, Siegmund did thank him by name for his "support," which, okay, sounds like more than posting. Did I say that? Forget I said that.”
The receipts
The AfD may not end up controlling Germany's Saxony-Anhalt state despite a landslide election victory, but the far-right party's "dream result" sends a clear message.
Alternative for Germany won the most votes in the Saxony-Anhalt election but fell short of an absolute majority.
Far-right party AfD shocked German Chancellor Friedrich Merz with a landslide regional election victory. CBS News' Trevor Phillips has more.
A blowout win by the far-right Alternative for Germany party in a state election has revealed a split among voters about whether to uphold a decades-old strategy for sidelining extremists.
A vote in eastern Germany has given fresh momentum to hard-right parties hoping to win elections elsewhere on the continent next year, analysts said.
AfD Saxony-Anhalt is a racist extremist group, according to the German state's intelligence agency. The party may well trounce its rivals in this weekend's state election.
‘They finally want political change’
A German far-right political party's candidate singled out tech billionaire Elon Musk after a state election victory on Sunday. "Thank you, @elonmusk, for your support and for your clear and highly important perspective on the political developments of our time — including here in Germany," Ulrich Siegmund, of the Alternative for Germany…
· A state election tests Germany’s far-right firewall from the morgue, 2 Sep 2026
· Parliamentary elections in the German states of Saxony and Thuringia show large gains for the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party and the left-wing populist Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht par from the morgue, 1 Sep 2024
· Germany's far-right AfD party is poised for power in a state election from the morgue, 4 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.