[6] After attending the Benedictine boarding school, Stephen Bartulica earned a degree in political science at the University of Missouri.

[8] Bartulica was active in Croatia's 2013 Croatian constitutional referendum on the definition of marriage and opposed the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.

[11] Bartulica stated that he pays for his daily living expenses with funds given to him by his mother,[12] and that a co-borrower helps him with the loan, while claiming to be victim of "a smear campaign".

[13] After being elected, Bartulica drove to the headquarters of the Homeland Movement in a Ferrari,[14] which he claims he got on loan as a "message to those who abuse him and his family in the media space", and as "a gesture towards some people who were with [him] all this time when it was difficult".

[15] Some Croatian politicians expressed displeasure with this act, including Bartulica's party colleagues Josip Dabro[16] and Ivan Penava,[17] but also Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.