 In May 2020, Flachsbarth announced that she would not stand in the 2021 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.Since 2006, Flachsbarth has been the deputy chairwoman of the CDU in Lower Saxony, under the leadership of successive chairmen Christian Wulff (2006-2008), David McAllister (2008-2016) and Bernd Althusmann (since 2016).Following the 2017 state elections in Lower Saxony, Flachsbarth was part of the CDU team in the negotiations with Stephan Weil’s Social Democrats on a coalition agreement.