After leaving editorial work in 1984, Gräßle enrolled at the University of Stuttgart, where she earned a master's degree in romance languages, history, and political science in 1989.

She spent a year studying at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, France, and in 1990, she took a job as the Director of Public Relations for Konrad-Adenauer-Haus (the German national headquarters for the Christian Democratic Union) in Bonn, Germany.

[6] 2004[3] 2007 2009 2014 During her time on the Committee on Budgetary Control, Gräßle led fact-finding missions to Hungary in 2011 and 2017 to visit multiple controversial EU-funded projects.

[9] In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg Winfried Kretschmann following the 2021 state elections, Gräßle was a member of the working group on public finances, co-chaired by Edith Sitzmann and Stefanie Bürkle.

[12] Ahead of the Christian Democrats' leadership election in 2018, Gräßle publicly endorsed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.

[13] In December 2017, the Committee on Legal Affairs decided to waive Gräßle's immunity after she caused a car accident in which a person suffered a shoulder injury.