Growth, parking and small-town charm are at the heart of this Pierce County race
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- Sumner voters will choose between three mayoral candidates in August 2025.
- Growth, housing and downtown revitalization dominate the candidates' agendas.
- Parking challenges, community input and local business support shape city plans.
Ballots for the 2025 primary election are out, and Sumner is getting a new mayor.
Mayor Kathy Hayden is not running for re-election. Hayden has been the town’s mayor since 2022, serving a four-year term.
Three candidates are now vying to follow in her footsteps – including the city’s current deputy mayor and Hayden’s predecessor who is fighting to reclaim his seat. This mayoral race has sparked conversations about growth, affordable housing, taxes, Sumner’s historic downtown and more.
Residents have until Aug. 5 to vote in the primary election. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November.
Who are the candidates?
There are three people running for Sumner mayor: deputy mayor Carla Bowman, former mayor Bill Pugh and attorney David Shelvey.
Bowman serves on the Sumner City Council and has also served as a board member of the Tacoma/Pierce County Economic Development Board. She has worked in the aerospace manufacturing field for 28 years.
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“I decided to run for mayor because I love our city, but I also feel it needs a strong, forward-thinking leader,” Bowman told The News Tribune.
Pugh served as the city’s mayor from 2018 to 2021. When The News Tribune asked him why he didn’t run re-election after his last term ended, he said he needed a break – but that he is now itching to return.
“I was a little worn out – it was a tough time with the pandemic, we had an urban fire, we had flooding, we had snowstorms. So at the end of that, I said, ‘OK, time for a break,’” Pugh said. “But then I discovered that, ‘No, [being mayor], that’s my calling. That’s what I want to do.’”
Pugh served as the assistant city manager and public works director for the City of Tacoma from 1974 to 2008. Then, when he moved to Sumner, he served as the city’s public works and public services director from 2008 to 2017. He has a master’s degree in engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
The News Tribune reached out to Shelvey, but did not get a response by deadline. According to the Pierce County Voters’ Pamphlet, Shelvey is an attorney, tax advisor and volunteer president of the Tacoma Eagles Club.
“I am running for mayor of Sumner because I am committed to our community’s future,” Shelvey wrote in the voters’ pamphlet. “Since becoming president of the Tacoma Eagles, I helped turn the struggling club around. With the support of officers and members, we have become one of the top ten Eagles’ clubs in Washington for member growth.”
Shelvey has a law degree and master’s degrees in project management, intellectual property, taxes and antitrust law.
Sumner’s growth and affordable housing
Bowman and Pugh both told The News Tribune that they would tackle growth, affordable housing and revitalizing downtown.
“I love the town, so I really want to see the city maintain its heritage and core values and not lose that while we grow,” Bowman told The News Tribune.
Bowman said that while growth and development are inevitable – especially since Sumner has to meet certain growth targets from the state – she would prioritize projects that make sense for Sumner.
“I know that the state has mandated a certain number of housing units by a certain year,” Bowman said. “It doesn’t mean that we have to develop, it means that we have to have the capability to develop. I would make sure the development aligns with our community’s character.”
She said she would also work on ways to engage with the community on future projects, such as hosting forums at the senior center.
“[I want to] pull people in and listen to residents and business owners and give them a seat at the table in shaping how our city grows, instead of just an open house where people can come in and put comments on a Post-It board,” Bowman said.
Bowman also said she would fight for more affordable housing by pursuing grants at the federal, state and county levels, and standardizing housing plans so that it is cheaper to build affordable housing. She also said she would go after tax reductions and exemptions for seniors and other vulnerable groups.
“I walk the city a lot with my husband and I have actually talked with people that are out front, gardening in their homes, and they are selling their family home that they grew up in because they can’t afford the property taxes,” Bowman said. “These are people on a fixed income, they’re seniors, and they just can’t continue to live there because of the rising costs.”
Pugh also said that he would embrace growth, meet the state’s growth targets and be strategic about keeping Sumner’s charm and small town feel.
“We have a plan to increase densities with higher buildings in the downtown area near city hall and also near the YMCA,” Pugh said. “And we did that so we can preserve the quality of our neighborhoods, which are truly unique, and so we’ve continued to do to that to make sure housing gets built.”
During Pugh’s first term, the city participated in the South Sound Housing Affordability Partners. He said Sumner contributed to a fund that developed affordable housing in Pierce County, and he would continue to do that if re-elected as mayor.
Visions for downtown Sumner
Bowman and Pugh both said they would prioritize bringing growth and sustainability to Sumner’s Main Street. Pugh called downtown Sumner “a treasure.”
“It’s one of the things that drew me to Sumner,” Pugh said.
Pugh said one of the biggest issues facing downtown is parking.
“An issue that I heard from a lot of the merchants has to do with parking … if you don’t have parking then there’s no cars and you don’t have customers,” Pugh said. “But at a certain point, if you have an overabundance of parking, that can restrict your customers from getting into downtown.”
Pugh said parking would be something the city is “really going to have to watch,” and that he would work with merchants, the Main Street Association and Sound Transit to evaluate the parking situation. He also said he would monitor the new Sumner station once it’s built and see if it improves parking.
He also said he supports current projects underway to revitalize Heritage Park and Hops Alley.
Pugh said he is proud of many accomplishments from his first term, including replacing the Cannery Bridge and upgrading the Traffic Ave interchange. He also said he would support establishing a transportation benefit district, which would collect taxes for local infrastructure projects.
“Some priorities that we need to work on [include] maintaining our local streets,” Pugh said. “The council is considering a transportation benefit district and I think that’s a good approach.”
Bowman said she would prioritize bringing more people to downtown.
“We have adorable shops and I know that we don’t always get enough people in the town for these shops to make a lot of revenue,” Bowman said.
She said she would look into putting billboards on freeways to lure people into downtown, and she also wants to bring a big business to Sumner for the economic boost.
“We could put stores like a Trader Joe’s or a Northwest Market – something that will pull people in,” Bowman said. “Our citizens drive up the hill to shop in Bonney Lake, or up the hill to shop in Puyallup.”
‘There is a strong sense of community’
Both candidates said the community is their favorite part of living in Sumner.
“Not everybody agrees on everything, but there is a strong sense of community in Sumner and I want to see the community thrive and I want to support people in the town that they live in,” Bowman said.
Bowman said she wants to be a strong, forward-thinking leader for Sumner, while Pugh said his best quality is making partnerships that bring change.
“I don’t want to see us go backwards, and I want things improved and the only way you can do that sometimes … is through partnerships,” Pugh said. “There’s partnerships with the school district, or the library, or the YMCA, or other nonprofits. That’s what I’m good at, is partnering, and in fact, I believe that’s the only way you really move a community ahead.”
Residents can learn more about the campaigns at billpughformayor.com and the “Vote Carla Bowman for Sumner Mayor” and “David Shelvey for Sumner Mayor in 2025” Facebook pages. For information on registering to vote, drop boxes and more, visit the Pierce County Elections page at piercecountywa.gov/328/Elections.
This story was originally published July 21, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
