Career in local politics, 2003–2013

In the municipal elections in Schleswig-Holstein in 2003, Sütterlin-Waack was elected as a community representative in Lürschau and vice-mayor there. As such she was a member of the Bureau of the Amt Schuby and chairwoman of the local School and Culture Committee. In the Schleswig-Holstein local elections of 2008, she was elected in the district council of Schleswig-Flensburg. From 2009 to 2013, she was Deputy CDU Parliamentary Group Leader and, from 2011 to 2013, Chairwoman of the Main Committee. In September 2013, she was elected to the Bundestag and resigned from the municipal offices that she had been re-elected to in May of the same year.

From 2011 until her entry into the Bundestag, Sütterlin-Waack was also honorary mayor of the municipality of Lüschau.

Member of the Bundestag, 2013–2017

Sütterlin-Waack was nominated as a candidate for the federal elections on 5 February 2013 after the original candidate, Jost de Jager,^[2] had resigned.^[3] She was nominated with 224 out of 231 votes.^[4]

In the 2013 general election, Sütterlin-Waack won the direct mandate with 42.5 percent of the direct votes and thus moved into the 18th Bundestag. She was a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection, where she served as her parliamentary group’s rapporteur on family law.

In November 2016, Sütterlin-Waack was elected one of the four deputy state chairmen of the CDU Schleswig-Holstein.^[5] In November 2018 she no longer took up this post;^[6] she was succeeded by State Minister of Education Karin Prien.^[7]

Career in state politics

After the victory of the CDU in the 2017 Schleswig-Holstein state election, Sütterlin-Waack was appointed Minister of Justice, Europe, Consumer Protection and Gender Equality in the government of Minister-President Daniel Günther on 28 June 2017 and resigned from the Bundestag. Her successor there was Thomas Jepsen.^[8]

In 2020, Sütterlin-Waack was appointed State Minister of the Interior, Rural Areas, and Integration. After assuming office, the Ministries name was changed to "Ministry of the Interior, Rural Areas, Integration and Equality".^[9]

As one of the state’s representatives at the Bundesrat, Sütterlin-Waack is a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs; the Committee on European Affairs; the Committee on Women and Youth; and the Committee on Agricultural Policy and Consumer Protection. She is also a member of the German-Russian Friendship Group set up by the Bundesrat and the Russian Federation Council.

Sütterlin-Waack was nominated by her party as delegate to the Federal Convention for the purpose of electing the President of Germany in 2022.^[10]

Sütterlin-Waack joined Daniel Günther's second cabinet on 29 June 2022 as Minister of the Interior, Municipal Affairs, Housing and Sports.^[11]