MICHIGAN—Every seat in the Michigan House of Representatives is on the ballot this November. The ‘Gander is profiling the races that could decide who controls Lansing.
Here’s what voters need to know ahead of Election Day in the 109th House District:
The race
Republican state Rep. Karl Bohnak and Democratic challenger Anna Aho Rink are running unopposed in the Aug. 4 primary election. They’ll face off in the general election on Nov. 3.
The district
Michigan’s 109th House District covers most of the Upper Peninsula’s central corridor—Alger, Baraga, and Marquette counties, plus portions of Dickinson—anchored by Marquette with Ishpeming, Negaunee, Munising, and Norway included. It’s home to roughly 91,000 people.
Bohnak won this seat in 2024 by defeating incumbent Democrat Jenn Hill, 51% to 49%, marking the first time a Republican had represented Marquette County in the state House since the 1950s. His victory was key to Republicans retaking the majority in the state House in 2025.
Rink, a born-and-raised Yooper and longtime physician assistant, launched her campaign in September 2025, citing the closure of Marquette’s Planned Parenthood clinic as her motivation.
Karl Bohnak (R)
Before politics, Bohnak spent more than 30 years as chief meteorologist at WLUC-TV6 in Marquette. That run ended abruptly in 2021 when he was fired for refusing to comply with station owner Gray Television‘s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Bohnak said the mandate violated his rights and, at the time, he compared the requirement to violations of the Nuremberg Code.
The firing made him a martyr in anti-mandate circles and helped launch his political career.
At 73, he’s now among the oldest members of the Michigan House. In the legislature, Bohnak serves as vice chair of the Committee on Economic Competitiveness and sits on the Natural Resources and Tourism, Health Policy, and Transportation and Infrastructure committees.
On his campaign website, Bohnak identifies a few top priorities for a second term, including lower taxes, local control over land use, affordable energy, and parental input in schools. He’s also been a vocal critic of Michigan’s efforts to transition to cleaner, renewable energy—earning him a 0% environmental voting score from the Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
On reproductive rights, Bohnak’s position has been clear. At a constituent office hours event at a public library in 2025, a Marquette resident asked whether he supported “reproductive freedom” after the closure of the UP’s only Planned Parenthood clinic. Bohnak said that he wouldn’t support a clinic that provides abortion care. The resident reportedly followed up and asked, “So you don’t support a woman’s autonomy over her own body?” and Bohnak answered: “I don’t.”
Bohnak has supported legislation requiring proof of citizenship when registering to vote, a move critics say would create unnecessary barriers to the ballot. He has also described himself as skeptical of climate change and recently appeared at an event hosted by Turning Point USA.
Bohnak authored a bipartisan bill to allow licensed counselors to practice across state lines, which passed the House 83-23 to expand telehealth access in rural areas. He also helped secure $3 million for the Marquette Sawyer Airport through the state budget.
“He cares deeply for all of us,” Bohnak’s campaign website states. “At his core, Karl wants to keep the UP the beautiful, caring, small town place we’ve all grown to love and know.”
Bohnak lives in Deerton with his wife and a cat. He has two sons and three grandkids.
Anna Aho Rink (D)
Rink is a fourth-generation Yooper, a public school parent, the daughter of a Navy veteran who worked a union job at a power plant, and the wife of a Marquette police officer. She’s currently employed as a physician assistant at the Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center.
According to her employer’s website, she earned a bachelor’s in health sciences from Grand Valley State University and a master’s degree in physician assistant studies, then began her career in emergency medicine in the Lower Peninsula before returning to the UP in 2008.
She spent 17 years working at the Planned Parenthood Marquette Health Center until the facility closed in April 2025, with Planned Parenthood of Michigan citing threats to federal funding from the Trump administration. The Marquette clinic was the only abortion provider in the Upper Peninsula; the nearest Planned Parenthood clinic is now a five-hour drive south.
Her campaign is built largely around healthcare access, public school funding, union jobs, housing affordability, and environmental protection. Her mantra is “People Over Politics.”
Rink entered the race partly in response to Bohnak’s vote in support of the Republican-led House budget, which she said would have cut funding for rural healthcare in Northern Michigan.
“When we send our leaders to Lansing, we expect them to work across the aisle to get things done and to fight for us—not to play political games with our future or to make decisions that don’t even benefit those of us back home in the UP,” Rink said in a campaign video. “I am not a politician but when I witnessed and experienced the threats to our communities, to my patients, to our children, to our lives, I knew that something had to change, that I could not just stand by.”
She has been endorsed by EMILY’s List, which bills itself as the nation’s largest resource for women in politics; 3.14 Action, which works to recruit scientists across all levels of government; and The Next 50, which backs next-generation Democratic candidates under age 50.
Rink lives in Negaunee with her husband, two children, and two dogs.
What’s at stake?
Control of the Michigan House of Representatives hangs on a handful of seats like this one.
Republicans hold a narrow majority there and Democrats need to flip some battleground districts if they want to regain the gavel in 2027. The 109th District is exactly the kind of race that will determine which party runs Lansing—and what gets done there—for the next two years.
Click here to make sure you’re registered to vote and to find your precinct. The only date that matters here: Nov. 3, 2026. Both candidates are running unopposed in the Aug. 4 primary.
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