LDP Presidential Race 2025: A Look at the Candidates

On September 7, 2025, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru announced his intention to step down as premier and as president of the Liberal Democratic Party. An election will take place on October 4 to choose the party’s next leader, who will have a strong chance to serve as prime minister as well. A number of hopefuls have raised their hands already; below we profile five politicians hoping to lead the ruling party as it navigates the troubled waters of minority government.

Candidates (Listed in Alphabetical Order)

Hayashi Yoshimasa

Hayashi speaks to the media as chief cabinet secretary in Tokyo on September 4, 2025. (© Jiji)

• Current position: Chief cabinet secretary
• Date of birth (age): January 19, 1961 (64)
• Career before entering national politics: Mitsui & Co.; policy secretary to his father, House of Representatives lawmaker Hayashi Yoshirō
• Constituency (number of times elected): Yamaguchi 3 (2) (House of Representatives); previously Yamaguchi (5) (House of Councillors)
• Party alignment: Was a member of the Kishida faction
• Key experience: Foreign minister; minister of education, culture, sports, science, and technology; minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
• Other notes: Finished last out of the five candidates in the September 2012 LDP presidential election and fourth out of nine in the 2024 contest. After multiple terms in the upper house, switched to the lower house in 2021 with an eye on building his political cachet toward another eventual run for the nation’s top post. Enjoys some support from members of the former Abe faction.

Kobayashi Takayuki

Kobayashi Takayuki addresses the press on September 11, 2025, at the National Diet. (© Jiji)

• Current position: Chair, LDP Research Commission on Intellectual Property Strategy; vice-chair, LDP Research Commission on Security; chair, LDP Headquarters for the Promotion of Economic Security
• Date of birth (age): November 29, 1974 (50)
• Career before entering national politics: Ministry of Finance
• Constituency (number of times elected): Chiba 2 (5)
• Party alignment: Was a member of the Nikai (Toshihiro) faction
• Key experience: Minister for economic security
• Other notes: Kobayashi endorsed Takaichi Sanae in the 2021 party presidential election, before running himself in 2024 and coming in fifth in the field of nine candidates. During campaigning that year he noted his support for revising the Japanese Constitution to clarify the role of the Self-Defense Forces, preparing the nation for responding to crisis situations.

Koizumi Shinjirō

Agriculture Minister Koizumi Shinjirō speaks on September 12, 2025, in Tokyo. (© Jiji)

• Current position: Minister of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
• Date of birth (age): April 14, 1981 (44)
• Career before entering national politics: Researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US think tank; secretary to his father, Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichirō (2001–6)
• Constituency (number of times elected): Kanagawa 11 (6)
• Party alignment: None
• Key experience: Minister of the environment; chair, LDP Research Commission on Fishery Policies; chair, LDP Election Strategy Committee; chair, House of Representatives Committee on National Security
• Other notes: A fourth-generation politician, he took the Kanagawa Prefecture seat previously held by his father, Koizumi Jun’ichirō, in 2009. In 2019 he became the youngest postwar male member of a cabinet when Abe Shinzō tapped him as environment minister. Viewed as enjoying support from LDP members seeking generational change, as well as relatively broad public support, he placed third in the first round of voting in the 2024 presidential contest.

Motegi Toshimitsu

Motegi Toshimitsu announces he will run for the LDP presidency in Tokyo on September 10, 2025. (© Kazuki Oishi/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect)

• Current position: Member, House of Representatives; no position in party
• Date of birth (age): October 7, 1955 (69)
• Career before entering national politics: Marubeni; political journalist for Yomiuri Shimbun; management consultant at McKinsey & Company
• Constituency (number of times elected): Tochigi 5 (11)
• Party alignment: Headed the Motegi faction until its dissolution in 2024
• Key experience: Foreign minister; minister of economy, trade, and industry; LDP Policy Research Council chair; LDP secretary general
• Other notes: Announced he would seek the LDP presidency on September 10, indicating his willingness to approach Nippon Ishin no Kai (the Japan Innovation Party) and the Democratic Party for the People on policy cooperation; has also commented on the need to abandon the LDP pledge made during the July 2025 upper house election to provide ¥20,000 cash handouts to all Japan residents, and to implement a new regional tax allocation scheme to combat rising consumer prices. Came in sixth place out of nine candidates in the September 2024 LDP leadership race.

Takaichi Sanae

Takaichi Sanae makes a speech before the final round of voting in the 2024 LDP presidential election. (© Reuters)

• Current position: Chair, LDP Research Commission on Public Safety and Counter-Terrorism
• Date of birth (age): March 7, 1961 (64)
• Career before entering national politics: Graduated from the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management
• Constituency (number of times elected): Nara 2 (10)
• Party alignment: None
• Key experience: Chair of LDP Policy Research Council; minister for internal affairs and communications; minister of state for the social security and tax number system; minister of state for economic security
• Other notes: With the backing of Abe Shinzō, she finished third in the first round of the 2021 LDP leadership contest, eventually won by Kishida Fumio. Came in first in the initial voting round in the 2024 presidential contest, but lost to Ishiba Shigeru in the runoff vote.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photos from left © Kazuki Oishi/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect; © Jiji; © Reuters; © Jiji; © Jiji.)