He was a member of the board of supervisors for the town of Vandenbroek from 2005 to 2007, and was chairman of the town board from 2007 to 2011. He also served on the Outagamie County board of supervisors from 2006 to 2011.
In November 2020, Steineke was re-elected as the Assembly Majority Leader by his GOP colleagues.[4]
In March 2021, Steineke applauded the conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for preventing Governor Tony Evers from extending a face mask mandate intended to halt the spread of the coronavirus.[5]
In January 2022, Steineke announced he would not run for re-election in 2022.[6] After announcing his retirement, he denounced the 2020 election review recommendations of Michael Gableman, saying that Gableman's suggestion that the legislature could "decertify the 2020 election" "would be the end of our republic as we know it."[7]