Shumake first represented the 6th District, encompassing all or portions of Marion and Ralls counties in northeast Missouri.
After graduation from Hannibal High School in 1968, he served in the U.S. Army, including a one-year tour during the Vietnam War.
[3] Shumake worked for the Missouri Division of Family Services as a caseworker beginning in 1977 and remain with the agency until 1997.
[5] His 2010 bid proved more successful as he beat Democrat Carl Thompson of Monroe City with fifty-seven percent of the vote.
Shumake ran for the newly created 5th Missouri House district in 2012, where he defeated Democrat Tom Shively, who had represented the 8th under its previous boundaries.