[13] The CSU is considered the de facto successor of the Weimar-era Catholic Bavarian People's Party.

Party leader Markus Söder serves as Minister-President of Bavaria, a position that CSU representatives have held from 1946 to 1954 and again since 1957.

His political career in the federal cabinet was unique in that he had served in four ministerial posts in the years between 1953 and 1969.

In the 1980 federal election, Strauß ran against the incumbent Helmut Schmidt of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) but lost thereafter as the SPD and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) managed to secure an absolute majority together, forming a social-liberal coalition.

Among other things, the BP was involved in the "casino affair" under dubious circumstances by the CSU at the end of the 1950s and lost considerable prestige and votes.

He ran for Chancellor of Germany in 2002, but his preferred CDU/CSU–FDP coalition lost against the SPD candidate Gerhard Schröder's SPD–Green alliance.

A year later, the CSU lost its majority in the 2008 Bavarian state election, with its vote share dropping from 60.7% to 43.4%.

In the 2023 Bavarian state election, the CSU remained on 85 seats (with 37.0% of the vote) and continued its coalition government with the Free Voters.

The CSU pledges to support small and medium enterprises, opposing tax increases on these companies.

In the 2006 fiscal year, the CSU presented a budget for Bavaria that was the first state to have no new debt, achieved primarily through rigorous spending cuts by all ministries.

[22] In April 2013, the Bavarian State Parliament decided to abolish tuition fees, with the support of some CSU members.

[28] The CSU has contributed eleven of the twelve Ministers-President of Bavaria since 1945, with only Wilhelm Hoegner (1945–1946, 1954–1957) of the SPD also holding the office.