Early beginnings Petra Roth joined the Christian Democratic Union in 1972 after she had moved to Frankfurt. Later she was elected to the local city council and between 1987 and 1995, to the
Landtag of Hesse. Between 1992 and 1995 she was chair of the
CDU in Frankfurt.
Mayor of Frankfurt, 1995−2012 On 25 June 1995, Roth was elected mayor of Frankfurt, defeating the incumbent
Andreas von Schoeler and becoming the city's first directly elected woman mayor. In 2001, she won the second round in a tight race against
Achim Vandreike (
SPD). Meanwhile, Roth is longest-serving Frankfurt mayor since World War II. She was also a passenger on a flight that was diverted to the
Newfoundland town of
Gander during the week following the
September 11 attacks. On 28 January 2007, Roth was re-elected in the first round with 60.5% of the votes but with voter participation of only 33.6%. Her rival candidate
Franz Frey (
SPD) got 27.5% of the votes. Roth was briefly considered as a potential successor to Federal President
Johannes Rau. In March 2008 she was considered a potential candidate for Minister-President of the State of Hesse. From 1997 to 1999 and from 2003 to 2005, Roth served as president of
Deutscher Städtetag, a position she took up again in 2009. She was also member of the
Committee of the Regions of European Union. During her time in office, Roth was a member of the board of Frankfurt International Airport
Fraport, chairman of the supervisory boards of the Frankfurt trade fair
Messe Frankfurt, of the municipal utility company Stadtwerke Frankfurt am Main, of the regional transport services company Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, and the regional housing society ABG Frankfurt Holding. ==Political positions==