She is the president of the Finnish Christian Democrats party. During her sports career, Essayah competed mainly in 5 000 and 10 000 metres. She made seven national records, all of which are still standing.
Essayah was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 but failed to be reelected in 2014 despite her 61 000 votes.
This left the Finnish Christian Democrats without MEPs in the 2014 election. Essayah was candidate in the Finnish presidential election, 2012.
She came last with 2.47 percent of the votes. In the 2015 Parliamentary elections, Essayah was elected to represent a newly formed constituency of Savonia and Karelia with over 11 000 votes.
She was later chosen to be the vice speaker of the Christian Democrats" Parliamentary group.
In August, she was chosen the new chair of her party after her successor, Päivi Räsänen, retired from the position after over ten years.
After retiring from sports she entered politics and represented the Christian Democrats in the Finnish parliament between 2003–2007 but failed to get reelected in the election of 2007. She served as the Christian Democrats" party secretary from 2007 to 2009.