In the 2013 elections, Benning ran for the direct mandate in the constituency of Münster, which she won with 38.8% of the first votes. In the Bundestag, she is a member of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment and a deputy member of the Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. On the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment, she serves as her parliamentary group’s rapporteur on STEM education and the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship scheme. She is also a member of the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development.