The German Federal Election 2021 has the potential to mark a crossroads in German olitics. Not only the context, e.g., Angela Merkel’s exit from politics, but also the election results leading to the formation of the first “traffic light” coalition have been remarkable. The contributions to this Special Issue analyse the election from various angles, focusing on peculiarities as well as general trends of electoral behaviour and competition. Thereby, they not only help to understand the election and its results better but also address pressing questions of electoral research, such as the role of personalization or the transformation of cleavage politics. This introduction describes the context as well as the main results of the election and provides a brief overview of the articles, systematizing their findings.