The incumbent government of The Greens and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) led by Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann lost its majority.

Themes in focus for the CDU were education policy, internal security, and the issue of infrastructure, including high-speed internet.

The SPD, led by Nils Schmid, wanted to win more votes to continue the existing government coalition with The Greens.

The electoral goal of the FDP, led by Hans-Ulrich Rülke, was to repeat its entry into the state parliament and possibly be involved in a governing coalition.

Its leading candidate Jörg Meuthen saw migration policy as an important election issue, alongside education, security, and energy transition.

"[3] CDU candidate Wolf also emphasized support for Merkel's "European solution" in the crisis, but in February 2016 tried to win more conservative voters by a joint proposal along with Rhineland-Palatinate CDU candidate Julia Klöckner for daily refugee quotas and border centers for migrants, which put additional pressure on Merkel.

[8] If it were possible to elect the minister-president directly, Kretschmann would have won an outright majority according to polls; he was even favored by 45% of CDU supporters.