Voters in Summerland and the surrounding area have traditionally elected candidates from the political right to the House of Commons, although there have been a few exceptions.
The first candidate to represent a riding which included Summerland was Charles Frederick Houghton of the Liberal Party, from 1871 to 1872.
Since 1872, there have been few instances when the community was not represented by right-wing candidates under the banners of the Social Credit Party, Progressive Conservative Party, Reform Party, Canadian Alliance and Conservative Party of Canada.
In the 1948, 1949 and 1953 elections, Owen Lewis Jones of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the forerunner of the New Democratic Party) was elected.
In 1968, Liberal candidate Bruce Howard was elected for one term.
Most recently, in the 1988 federal election, NDP candidate Jack Whittaker defeated Progressive Conservative incumbent Fred King by 1,342 votes.
In the following election and in ever election since that time, Summerland has been represented by politicians on the right.
Reform Party candidate Jim Hart was elected in 1993 with 43.59 per cent support.
He was re-elected with 53.06 per cent voter support in 1997.
In a byelection in September, 2000, Canadian Alliance candidate Stockwell Day received 70 per cent voter support.
Day continued to receive strong support in the riding as an Alliance candidate and later a Conservative Party candidate.
He received 59.25 per cent voter support in November, 2001, 49.8 per cent support in 2004, 50.2 per cent support in 2006 and 58.1 per cent of the vote in 2008.
In the 2011 federal election, Conservative candidate Dan Albas received 53.6 per cent of voter support.