A native of the northern city of Toruń, the co-capital and assembly location of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Grażyna Ciemniak initially gained her Senate seat in the 1993 parliamentary election.

In 2001 Polish parliamentary election, she campaigned for the Sejm IV term from Bydgoszcz district 4 as candidate from the Democratic Left Alliance-Labor Union (SLD-UP) list[1] and was elected with 8,212 votes.

In 2005 parliamentary election she was started to the Sejm V Term from 4 Bydgoszcz district.

She polled 3,807 votes and was second on the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) list[6] for the Sejm term which ended in 2007.

Grażyna Ciemniak's son, Robert (born 1975), is a chess prodigy who has held the title of International Master since 1993.