In 1987 he ran for Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) of his home town Nürnberg, but lost to his opponent Peter Schönlein (SPD).

[3] In 1988, Beckstein became State Secretary at the Bavarian Ministry of Interior (Bayerisches Staatsministerium des Innern).

Beckstein won seat in the Bundestag in the 2005 German federal elections but did not take up this position, preferring to stay in state politics.

His rise to the post of Bavarian prime minister was something of a novelty in the state as he is from Franconia—the northern half of Bavaria—and a Protestant.

[7][8] Beckstein was a CSU delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2017.