Kai Wegner was born in Berlin-Spandau on 15 September 1972. He is Protestant and has three children. After finishing school (Carl-Schurz-Grundschule and Hans-Carossa-Oberschule), he did his military service with Germany’s air force. In 1997, he completed his training as an insurance broker and worked with corporate clients for the next two years. Starting in 1999, he was employed by a family-owned construction company, where he was a member of management from 2001 to 2002. He then worked as a business consultant.
Wegner’s political career started in 1995, when he was elected to the Spandau Borough Assembly. From 1999 to 2005, he was a member of the Berlin House of Representatives and both the deputy chair of his parliamentary group and its economic policy spokesperson. In 2005, Wegner was elected to the German Bundestag, where he was a member of the Business and Technology Committee, among other things. From 2009 to 2017, he chaired the Berlin group within the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) parliamentary group and was the commissioner for large cities from 2014 to 2017. From 2018 to 2021, Wegner chaired the CDU/CSU parliamentary group’s working group on construction, housing, urban development, and municipalities, in addition to being the parliamentary group’s spokesperson on construction policy.
He is active in many different organizations, including the DLRG Landesverband Berlin (Berlin chapter of the German Life-Saving Association), the Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13. August (August 13 study group), the Förderverein Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen (a friends association of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial), the CDU Mittelstandsvereinigung (an association for small and medium-sized businesses), the Christlich Demokratische Arbeitnehmerschaft (Christian Democratic Workers’ Association), the Unionhilfswerk (a charitable organization), the Reservistenverband (Reservist Association), the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (GdP) (a police union), the Deutsche Polizeigewerkschaft (DPolG) (a police union), the board of the InfraNeu Hauptverband (sustainable infrastructure), the board of the Lotto-Stiftung Berlin (Berlin Lottery Foundation), the board of the Hertha BSC Stiftung (Hertha BSC Foundation), and the Institut Privater Bauherren e.V. (an association of private-sector builders).
In 1989, Wegner joined the CDU and its youth organization, the Junge Union, in Spandau. He held various offices in this context, such as chair of the Berlin CDU’s organization for high-school students, chair of the Spandau Junge Union, and, from 2000 to 2003, chair of the Berlin Junge Union. From 1998 to 2005, he was deputy chair of the Spandau CDU and then, starting in 2005, chair of the Spandau CDU. From 2011 to 2016, he was secretary general of the Berlin CDU. In 2019, he was elected chair of the Berlin CDU and has been a member of the CDU’s national board ever since.
In 2021, Kai Wegner won election to the Berlin House of Representatives and then the chairship of the CDU parliamentary group. On 12 February 2023, he was re-elected to the House of Representatives in Berlin’s repeat election and confirmed as chair of the CDU parliamentary group. Since 27 April 2023, Kai Wegner has been Governing Mayor of Berlin.