On 25 February 2020, he announced his candidacy in the 2021 leadership election. One of his rivals was Armin Laschet, who named Jens Spahn as his future vice-president. His second challenger was Norbert Röttgen. After several postponements, the election of the new CDU party president took place only at the two-day party congress in mid-January 2021, which was the first time in the party's history that it was held in a fully digital way. In the vote on 16 January 2021, the second day of the congress, Merz received 385 votes in the first round, 5 more than Laschet. In the second round, Merz received 466 votes out of 1001 delegates, while Laschet received 521 votes, thus failing to win the party president's post for the second time.