Unlike in the other German states, the Free Voters of Bavaria have also contested state elections since 1998. In the Bavaria state election of 2008 FW obtained 10.2% of the vote and gained their first 20 seats in the Landtag. FW may have been helped by the presence in its list of Gabriele Pauli, a former member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria. Others suggested that the cause and effect might be the other way about. In the state election of 2013 FW repeated its success, gaining 19 seats. Then, in the 2018 "Landtag" elections, the Free Voters won a record 27 seats. In the 2021 Rhineland-Palatinate state election, the FW entered the "Landtag" there for the first time, amassing 5.4% of the vote and six seats.