From 1988 to 1999 he was director of the town's music school; in 1989 he became the local party chairman; in 1992 he joined the city council; from 1992 to 1996, he was head of politics and education in the People's Party of Lower Austria; from 1996 to 1998 he was mayor of Waidhofen an der Ybbs; in 1998 he joined the provincial government of Lower Austria as treasurer; in February 2009 he was appointed Deputy Governor; in 2010 he became state chairman of the ÖAAB.

He assumed the post on 21 April, at which time Mikl-Leitner took Sobotka's position in the Lower Austrian state government.

As Minister of the Interior, Sobotka was encouraged to pursue a tougher asylum policy and to enhance police powers.

[8] In 2017, Sobotka presented a proposal for a security policy that would grant police access to surveillance cameras on the railways, highways, and Vienna metro[9] and that would permit them to monitor modern online communication if necessary.

[10] A performance of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik played by the Cappella Istropolitana and conducted by Sobotka was used in Josef Hader’s 2017 film Wild Mouse.

From 2016 to 2017 Sobotka served as Austrian Federal Minister of the Interior in the governments of successive Chancellors Werner Faymann and Christian Kern.