Career in state politics Having joined the liberal party
Alliance '90/The Greens in 1998, Gehring was part of the party’s leadership in North Rhine-Westphalia from 2000 until 2006, under chairwoman
Sylvia Löhrmann.
Member of the German Parliament, 2005–2025 Gehring was elected to the
Bundestag in the
2005 federal election. In parliament, he served on the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. He was his parliamentary group’s spokesperson for youth (2005–2011), education (2011–2013), and universities (2005–2017). From 2018 until 2021, he also served on the
Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid. In addition to his committee assignments, Gehring served as deputy chairman of the German-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Group (2013–2017); the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with Arabic-Speaking States in the Middle East (since 2018), which is in charge of maintaining inter-parliamentary relations with
Bahrain,
Irak,
Yemen,
Jordan,
Qatar,
Kuwait,
Lebanon,
Oman,
Saudi Arabia,
Syria,
United Arab Emirates and the
Palestinian territories; and the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Central African States (since 2018). In the negotiations to form a so-called
traffic light coalition of the
Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party and the
Free Democrats (FDP) following the
2021 German elections, Gehring was part of his party's delegation in the working group on innovation and research, co-chaired by
Thomas Losse-Müller,
Katharina Fegebank and
Lydia Hüskens. From December 2021, Gehring chaired the Committee on Education and Research. In the negotiations to form a
coalition government of the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Green Party under
Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Hendrik Wüst following the
2022 state elections, Gehring was part of his party’s delegation in the working group on research, digitization and innovation, co-chaired by
Anja Karliczek and
Raoul Roßbach. In June 2024, Gehring announced that he would not stand in the
2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term. ==Other activities==