The constituency was created for the 2005 election, expanding the Gera – Saale-Holzland-Kreis constituency by adding the city of Jena from the abolished Jena – Weimar – Weimarer Land constituency. Both the predecessor constituencies, which had been created for the 2002 election, had been won by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), and they won the new constituency in the 2005 election. However at the 2009 election the constituency was one of two in Thuringia gained by The Left and in 2013 it was one of all nine in the state won by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The last representative was Albert Weiler. For the 2017 election, the constituency was dissolved and not replaced. The area was assigned to neighboring constituencies. Gera went to Gera - Greiz - Altenburger Land, Jena to Jena - Sömmerda - Weimarer Land I and the Saale-Holzland district to Saalfeld-Rudolstadt - Saale-Holzland-Kreis - Saale-Orla-Kreis.