His family moved to Texas; Boland returned to the Quad Cities area to finish the final two years of high school.
[citation needed] As of 2011[update], Boland lived in East Moline, Illinois.
[7] In June 2011, Mike Boland announced that he was running for the Democratic nomination for 17th district congressman, which would then go up against the Republican freshman U.S. Representative Bobby Schilling.
Other competitors in the race at that time included Illinois State Senator David Koehler of Peoria; East Moline City Councilwoman Cheri Bustos, Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp, and Quad Cities immigration lawyer Eric Reyes.
[10] However, in October 2011, Boland dropped out of the Congressional race to run instead against incumbent Mike Jacobs for the Democratic nomination for Illinois State Senate in the 36th Legislative District.