[1] From 24 October 2009 to 5 November 2012 he was the state chairman of the Left Party in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and from 2009 to 2013 he was a member of the 17th German Bundestag, where he was elected as a direct candidate.

Until he started school, he lived with his parents and older sister in the Reutershagen district before the family moved to a new development in the city center.

Bockhahn did his civilian alternative service (German: Zivildienst) at a daycare center run by the People's Solidarity in Rostock.

After Christian Kleiminger (SPD) and Eckhardt Rehberg (CDU), he received the third-best vote but failed to win.

During this time, he initiated a citizens' petition against the sale of municipal property together with the service sector union ver.di.

[7] On 5 March 2014, Bockhahn was elected senator for the department of youth, social affairs, health, schools, and sports by the Rostock city parliament.

[8] In a decision dated 10 July 2014 the Schwerin Administrative Court prohibited the Hanseatic City of Rostock from appointing Bockhahn as a senator (elective official) because he lacked the aptitude, qualification, and expertise required for the office and the election by the Bürgerschaft violated the constitutional requirement to select the best (Case No.

[12] In January 2012, it became known that Bockhahn was one of 27 members of the Bundestag of the Left Party under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution,[13] which was criticized by politicians of all factions.