text: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate
  ! rowspan=2| Party
  ! colspan=2| First round
  ! colspan=2| Second round
  The city leaders since 1810 are:
  1810–1820: Johann Wilhelm Reinhardt
  1820–1832: Valentin Möhl
  1833–1835: Heinrich Andriano
  1836–1849: Ludwig Jolly
  1849–1852: Friedrich Reiß
  1852–1861: Heinrich Christian Diffené
  1861–1870: Ludwig Achenbach
  1870–1891: Eduard Moll
  1891–1908: Otto Beck
  1908–1913: Paul Martin
  1914–1928: Theodor Kutzer
  1928–1933: Hermann Heimerich (SPD)
  1933–1945: Carl Renninger (NSDAP)
  1945–1948: Josef Braun (CDU)
  1948–1949: Fritz Cahn-Garnier (SPD)
  1949–1955: Hermann Heimerich (SPD)
  1956–1972: Hans Reschke (independent)
  1972–1980: Ludwig Ratzel (SPD)
  1980–1983: Wilhelm Varnholt (SPD)
  1983–2007: Gerhard Widder (SPD)
  2007–2023: Peter Kurz (SPD)
  2023–present: Christian Specht (CDU)
  City council
  The council has 48 seats and is elected by direct suffrage for five years. In the local elections in Baden-Württemberg, voters are allowed to take advantage of cumulative voting and vote splitting. Since the Second World War the SPD, except in the elections of 1999 and 2004, has received more votes than the CDU. In the 2019 election, the Greens received the most votes for the first time. The next municipal election will take place in 2024.
  The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:
  ! colspan=2| Party
  ! Votes
  ! %
  ! +/-
  ! Seats
  ! +/-