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Mike Bohacek

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Mike Bohacek
Image of Mike Bohacek
Indiana State Senate District 8
Tenure

2016 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

8

Compensation

Base salary

$32,070.24/year

Per diem

$196/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Contact

Mike Bohacek (Republican Party) is a member of the Indiana State Senate, representing District 8. He assumed office on November 9, 2016. His current term ends on November 8, 2028.

Bohacek (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Indiana State Senate to represent District 8. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Mike Bohacek, as of December 2019, lives in Michiana Shores, Indiana. He holds bachelor's degrees in finance and economics from DePaul University. Bohacek’s career experience includes working as an enterprise consultant and owner with MSL Services Inc. He also was the Michiana Shores town councilman and the LaPorte County commissioner.[1]

Committee assignments

Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.

2023-2024

Bohacek was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Bohacek was assigned to the following committees:

2019-2020

Bohacek was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Indiana committee assignments, 2017
Corrections and Criminal Law
Elections
Family & Children Services
Local Government

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Indiana State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Indiana State Senate District 8

Incumbent Mike Bohacek defeated Leon P. Smith in the general election for Indiana State Senate District 8 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Mike Bohacek
Mike Bohacek (R)
 
71.7
 
42,545
Leon P. Smith (D)
 
28.3
 
16,782

Total votes: 59,327
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Indiana State Senate District 8

Leon P. Smith advanced from the Democratic primary for Indiana State Senate District 8 on May 7, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Leon P. Smith
 
100.0
 
2,735

Total votes: 2,735
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 8

Incumbent Mike Bohacek defeated Joe Layne and Spencer England in the Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 8 on May 7, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Mike Bohacek
Mike Bohacek
 
44.4
 
5,950
Joe Layne
 
33.1
 
4,427
Image of Spencer England
Spencer England Candidate Connection
 
22.5
 
3,010

Total votes: 13,387
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bohacek in this election.

Pledges

Bohacek signed the following pledges.

  • U.S. Term Limits

2020

See also: Indiana State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Indiana State Senate District 8

Incumbent Mike Bohacek defeated Gary Davis in the general election for Indiana State Senate District 8 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Mike Bohacek
Mike Bohacek (R)
 
59.4
 
35,329
Gary Davis (D)
 
40.6
 
24,132

Total votes: 59,461
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 8

Incumbent Mike Bohacek advanced from the Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 8 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Mike Bohacek
Mike Bohacek
 
100.0
 
7,575

Total votes: 7,575
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Indiana State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for the Indiana State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on May 3, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was February 5, 2016. Incumbent Jim Arnold (D) did not seek re-election.

Mike Bohacek defeated Maxine Spenner in the Indiana State Senate District 8 general election.[2][3]

Indiana State Senate, District 8 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Mike Bohacek 58.27% 31,239
     Democratic Maxine Spenner 41.73% 22,373
Total Votes 53,612
Source: Indiana Election Divsion


Maxine Spenner defeated Dan Cruz in the Indiana State Senate District 8 Democratic primary.[4][5]

Indiana State Senate, District 8 Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Maxine Spenner 52.36% 6,836
     Democratic Dan Cruz 47.64% 6,219
Total Votes 13,055
Source: Indiana Election Division


Mike Bohacek defeated Allen Stevens in the Indiana State Senate District 8 Republican primary.[4][5]

Indiana State Senate, District 8 Republican Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.png Mike Bohacek 57.04% 9,099
     Republican Allen Stevens 42.96% 6,853
Total Votes 15,952
Source: Indiana Election Division

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mike Bohacek did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Mike Bohacek did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2016

Bohacek's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[6]

Mike is a transportation industry veteran and is a consultant with Echo Global Logistics. He believes that Economic Development funding needs to be directed at the areas of the District hat have been hit the hardest. He also feels that we need opportunities for the taxpayers of District Eight to become more involved in government through board and commission appointments.[7]

Campaign finance summary


Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.


Mike Bohacek campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Indiana State Senate District 8Won general$163,618 $93,766
2020Indiana State Senate District 8Won general$139,676 N/A**
2016Indiana State Senate, District 8Won $20,300 N/A**
Grand total$323,594 $93,766
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Indiana

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Indiana scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.


2024


2023


2022


2021


2020


2019


2018


2017


2016



Noteworthy events

DUI charge (2025)

See also: Noteworthy criminal misconduct in American politics (2025-2026)

Charges were made public on June 2, 2025, that Bohacek was stopped for driving under the influence and speeding on January 24, 2025.[8] Bohacek was not arrested at the time of the incident due to a section of the Indiana Constitution known as legislative immunity, which makes legislators immune from arrest during the legislative session. Indiana's 2025 session ran from January 8 to April 25.[9]

Article 4, Section 8 states,

Senators and Representatives, in all cases except treason, felony, and breach of the peace, shall be privileged from arrest, during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same; and shall not be subject to any civil process, during the session of the General Assembly, nor during the fifteen days next before the commencement thereof. For any speech or debate in either House, a member shall not be questioned in any other place.[10][7]

On August 28, 2025, Bohacek pleaded guilty to a Class A misdemeanor. The terms of the plea deal also included a fine, suspension of his license, and informal probation. The remaining charges were dismissed.[11]

See also


External links

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by
-
Indiana State Senate District 8
2016-Present
Succeeded by
-


Current members of the Indiana State Senate
Leadership
Majority Leader:Chris Garten
Senators
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
Liz Brown (R)
District 16
District 17
Andy Zay (R)
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
J.D. Ford (D)
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
Eric Koch (R)
District 45
District 46
District 47
District 48
District 49
Jim Tomes (R)
District 50
Republican Party (40)
Democratic Party (10)