Press Release from Luke Sommer’s Campaign
Luke Sommer has announced his candidacy for the Hayden City Council in the November election. He is the recommended candidate of the Kootenai County Republican Party.
Luke Sommer first moved to Kootenai County in 2002. He is married to his beautiful and
talented wife, Rowena. The father of five grown children, he spent nearly 25 years in
Canada, where he witnessed firsthand the dangers of living under a semi-socialist state.
Luke has been a realtor since 1987, selling real estate in California, British Columbia, and
Idaho. Luke has witnessed several real estate booms and busts. He is a graduate of Moody
Bible Institute in Chicago (’82) and Trinity Western University in Langley, BC (’85). In 1985,
Luke studied the International and Comparative Law of Human Rights in Strasbourg,
France. Later, in 1988, Luke ran for the United States House of Representatives as the
Republican nominee in California’s 13th Congressional District (San Jose; Bay Area). Luke
currently volunteers on the Kootenai Hospital Board of Directors as a Trustee and he and
his wife attend Hayden Bible Church.
As a husband, father of five, and a resident of Hayden for over 12 years, Luke said he has
become increasingly concerned for Hayden’s future. Luke understands that Hayden ought
to develop a mix of different housing types, but he maintains that there has been too much
of a rush to develop higher-density housing.
“I’m running for Hayden City Council to bring focus and efficiency to city government, and
to help bring policy and practice back into line with the people’s desire for appropriate
growth. Hayden’s fast growth has happened largely because the city council lacks
transparency in its decision-making process. I have been a member of the National
Association of Parliamentarians for 13 years, and I am alarmed that city council meetings
are often poorly run, with insufficient public input, and that council meeting minutes prior
to 2025 are no longer posted on the city website. Meeting minutes serve as a record of the
actions taken by our local government. Hayden city government needs to be transparent
and efficient, re-embrace low and slow growth, make growth pay for itself, and avoid
entanglements with outside groups that have agendas aligned with higher-density,
centralizing tendencies. I look forward to serving the people of Hayden and seeing our city
thrive.”
