Sam Kooiker (born March 9, 1974) is an American politician who served as Mayor of Rapid City, South Dakota from 2011 to 2015.

[5] During his time at USD, Kooiker continued working for Hy-Vee in Vermillion, South Dakota, and was also an intern at the Sioux City Police Department in his home state of Iowa.

[16] The next year, Kooiker applied for the position of city administrator in Cherokee, Iowa, but did not get the job, which instead went to Don Eikmeier.

Kooiker began his campaign with heavy use of social media, primarily Facebook,[17] and was elected mayor that year by "a wave of overwhelming support in some of the city's poorer precincts,"[10][18] defeating Hanks by 478 votes.

[27] Kooiker lost his bid for a third term in June 2015, as former Rapid City police chief Steve Allender won the election by 1,226 votes.

[29] Cherokee, Iowa mayor Mark Murphy announced Kooiker's hiring as city administrator in October 2015.

[36] Sheldon's city council voted to approve the hiring of Kooiker later that month,[37] and he assumed the office in December 2018,[35] succeeding Sean Hutchinson.