Summers was elected by the 125th Legislature to serve as Maine's 48th Secretary of State. He was sworn into office on January 6, 2011.

Summer's first entry into state politics came in 1990 when he successfully campaigned to represent the thirty-first senate district in the State Legislature. During his first two years in office, he served as a member of the Legal Affairs and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Joint Standing Committee. Upon winning re-election in 1992, Summers was named as a ranking member of the Taxation Joint Standing Committee. In 1994, he chose to campaign for the United States House of Representatives seat for the 1st House District; he ultimately lost in the Republican primary, placing second with twenty-five percent of the vote. He would campaign for the same seat two more times - in 2004 and 2008. After his primary defeat, Summers began his tenure as State Director for Republican United States Senator Olympia J. Snowe, a position he maintained for nine years. From March 2005 until June 2007, he was New England Regional Administrator (Region I) for the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), a role in which he was responsible for oversight of SBA District Offices in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont in addition to the agency's financing, marketing and outreach efforts in the six-state region.