Career
All of this was happening when the movement was yet in its nascent stages. Meanwhile, Festerling was transitioning out of the AfD, the party she was formerly affiliated with. After Oertel"s resignation, there was a void that needed to be filled in Pegida"s ranks, given the fact that there are so many men in the movement.
Achim Exner, Frank Ingo Friedemann, René Jahn, Kathrin Oertel, Bernd-Volker Lincke, and Thomas Tallacker had resigned, and Lutz Bachmann, Vicky Bachmann, Tom Balazs, Stephan Baumann, Siegfried Däbritz, and Thomas Hiemann were the only ones left in the Orgateam.
Festerling joined Pegida and became the first-ever Pegida candidate to run for office, campaigning for the mayoral office of Dresden and receiving 9.6% of the vote in the election held on June 7, 2015.
