COEUR d’ALENE — Maybe it was the worst-kept secret in town.

Nonetheless, there was still a slight air of drama Tuesday evening on the sun-splashed deck of his lake-view law office.

Despite the casual surroundings, with the star of the show dressed as a proper Idahoan in jeans and an open-necked shirt, there was the sense that this was a moment of seriousness.

“I’m Luke Malek and I’m running for Congress,” said the three-term Republican state legislator to open the proceedings — consciously or subconsciously taking the nearly identical phrasing used repeatedly in a movie called “The American President.”

No one in the audience, which included Malek’s family and friends (wife Tara was present via video call), had the slightest doubt what Tuesday’s announcement was going to be, but that didn’t detract from the event.

“I really don’t want to leave Coeur d’Alene,” Malek said while looking toward the lake and downtown, “(but) I feel the need to serve on a bigger scale.”

However, the road from that sunny patio to Washington, D.C., will be considerably less laid-back.

Malek, 35, is in for a scrap if he hopes to fill the open 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Raul Labrador, who is coming home to run for governor.

“Somebody told me yesterday that I’m an underdog, that this is David and Goliath, that I don’t have name recognition in the Treasure Valley,” Malek said.

“Maybe so, but I’ve fought for everything I’ve ever done and I’ll fight for this.”

The district seat is generally considered safely Republican, so Malek’s challenge will likely come in the primary next May 15.

He will face formidable opponents in former state Sen. Russ Fulcher and former Lt. Gov. David Leroy.

Malek will soon embark on a tour of the district, but his trickiest task could be earning the unofficial help of the mega-conservative Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

Technically, the KCRCC cannot endorse or work for a candidate until after the May primary — but as individuals with plenty of clout, the committee members certainly can swing North Idaho voters.

Fulcher is considered popular with the committee and in the region, which helped him get 43 percent of the vote in a losing primary battle for governor against Butch Otter.

That race was not expected to be quite so close, but North Idaho went strongly for Fulcher, so he surely will remain a factor — and right in Malek’s backyard.

Asked about convincing members of the KCRCC that he is a true conservative worth backing, Malek said: “Yes, I have to do that. This is my base.”

On the matter of particular issues and positions he might champion in the House of Representatives, Malek mentioned a desire to see health care costs lowered across the board and — somewhat uniquely — insisted that Idaho and the district have a presence in Washington.

He said he would create what could be called a liaison office to make sure the needs of the district were always being communicated to his office.

North Idaho has not had a representative in the U.S. Congress since 1967, and Malek almost laughed trying to recall when Kootenai County last sent someone to Washington.

“I think it was the 1950s,” he said.

It was actually 1950.

Despite that, Malek insisted there is no true barrier to someone from Coeur d’Alene winning a seat.

“I don’t believe it’s the problem people say it is,” he said. “I’m known in Boise for my work in the Legislature. I went to the College of Idaho. I’ve worked with (Sen.) Jim Risch when he was governor.

“Obviously I have to meet more people and really make an impression, but I’m not a complete unknown.

“Believe me, I can win this thing.”