Since 1975, Wulff has been a member of the CDU. From 1978 to 1980, he served as federal chairman of the "Schülerunion". This was a political high school student organization connected to the Christian Democrats. He became the regional chairman of the "Junge Union" in Lower Saxony in 1983. In 1986, he was elected a city councillor in his hometown. Since 1984, he has sat on the CDU's regional party council of Lower Saxony, serving as its chairman since 1994.