On 4 June 2010, he was chosen by his party to follow Christian Wulff as Minister-President of Lower Saxony, if the latter was to be elected President of Germany on 30 June. After the election of Wulff as President, David McAllister was elected the new Minister-President of Lower Saxony the following day. In 2013, he lost the re-election to Stephan Weil, of the Social Democrats. He was subsequently also appointed to the supervisory board of Volkswagen, the largest company of Lower Saxony and of which the state of Lower Saxony is a major stockholder.