Constantine opened a private law practice in 1990. He served as chair of the 34th District Democrats organization and worked as an aide for King County Council member
Greg Nickels. Constantine was elected to the state house of representatives in 1996. He won re-election in 1998. In 2009, he served as council chair.
2009 election Constantine announced his candidacy for
King County Executive on February 16, 2009, to replace
Ron Sims who was appointed the United States
Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In the
primary election, Constantine received 22% of the votes to advance to a run off against candidate
Susan Hutchison, who received 37%. Described as "perhaps the most contentious race on the November [2009] ballot" by Seattle
NPR outlet KPLU, the campaign was characterized as
negative campaigning, including "mudslinging" ads paid for by the candidates' supporters. Constantine received press attention for stressing the conservative affiliations of Hutchison, pointing to her involvement with the
Discovery Institute and contributions to Republican candidates such as President Bush in 2004 and Mike Huckabee in 2008. Hutchison downplayed any perceived partisanship and criticized Constantine as a political insider with close ties to labor unions. The PDC concluded there was no coordination and dismissed the complaint. The PDC also investigated complaints regarding Hutchison's campaign on allegations that campaign contributions exceeded single election limits and that expenditures by the campaign were not properly documented. The PDC imposed a $100 fine against Hutchison for exceeding campaign limits and dismissed the failure-to-report allegations. Constantine was endorsed by Governor
Christine Gregoire, Seattle Mayor
Greg Nickels, US Senators
Patty Murray and
Maria Cantwell, Organizations that endorsed Constantine included
NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, the
Sierra Club, the
Cascade Bicycle Club,
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the
UFCW. On election night, November 3, the initial batch of election results had Constantine winning the election over Hutchison, at that time receiving 57% to her 43%. He was expected to replace interim Executive Kurt Triplett on November 24 following the certification of election results by the King County Elections' Canvassing Board. Constantine was ultimately declared the winner, and was inaugurated November 24, 2009.
Potential gubernatorial campaign In early 2019, Constantine was mentioned as a possible candidate for
governor of Washington in
the 2020 election. Two-term incumbent
Jay Inslee was constitutionally eligible for to run for a third term but had opted to
mount a campaign for president of the United States in
the 2020 election instead, leaving the governor's office open. Several Democrats expressed interest in running should it be an open election but did not want to challenge Inslee. Facing poor polling numbers, Inslee decided to suspend his presidential campaign on August 21 and announced the next day he would indeed seek a third term as governor. Constantine, along with several other potential candidates, released a statement that he would not be running in 2020 and would instead focus on his own 2021 reelection campaign.
King County Executive Constantine is the longest-serving county executive in King County history. During his tenure, he was also a member of the
Sound Transit Board and chaired the board during the development of the
Sound Transit 3 ballot initiative, which passed in 2016. Constantine was re-elected to a fourth term in 2021 with 55% of the vote against general-election opponent
Joe Nguyen, a state senator. Constantine announced in November 2024 that he would not run for re-election as King County Executive once his term expires in 2025. Constantine took over the position on April 1 after he resigned as King County Executive and was replaced by deputy executive
Shannon Braddock. ==Personal life==