A member of the Social Democratic Party, he previously served as the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.

Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann.

In 1958, the pacifist[1] Rau and his political mentor, Gustav Heinemann, joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), where he was active in the Wuppertal chapter.

In 1987, Rau was his party's candidate to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but he lost the 1987 West German federal election against Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

In 1994, Rau was a candidate to become President of Germany but lost the 1994 German presidential election to Roman Herzog.

[citation needed] Rau had a long history of heart disease and died 11 days after his 75th birthday on 27 January 2006.

[6] As his personal motto, Rau adopted the Confessing Church dictum "teneo, quia teneor" (I hold because I am held).

In 2001, he received the Leo Baeck Medal for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance and social justice.

Christina Rau is a granddaughter of her husband's mentor, Gustav Heinemann, former President of Germany.