Hutchison, Constantine to face off for King County executive in November

Former TV newscaster Susan Hutchison and Metropolitan King County Councilmember Dow Constantine pulled away from a crowded field to win places in the general election for county executive.

Hutchison won 37 percent of Tuesday night's count of mail ballots, followed by Constantine with 22 percent.

Constantine led his nearest rival, state Sen. Fred Jarrett, by more than 10 percentage points. County Councilmember Larry Phillips and state Rep. Ross Hunter were close behind Jarrett.

Three other candidates ran in the nonpartisan contest with little or no financial backing and received few votes.

The ballots counted Tuesday night represented just over half of the expected turnout for the primary.

Reiterating themes Tuesday night that they sounded during the primary, Hutchison blasted partisan politics and an "arrogant" government, while Constantine said Hutchison was hiding political views that are out of step with county voters.

"Now voters have a clear choice between the old way and the new," Hutchison told supporters at the Edgewater Hotel. "The old is divisive partisanship, bully politics, irresponsible spending and arrogant county leadership that lost touch with people."

Constantine, a former state legislator who gained strong support from labor unions and environmentalists, said shortly before addressing supporters at Kells on Post Alley, "I'm the one whose values are consistent with the voters of King County. I'm the one with the experience to bring the government through this period of transition and create real reform."

Deep field

The first executive primary in 40 years without an incumbent in the race drew a deep field of candidates.

The stage was set in February for a tough primary when then-County Executive Ron Sims suspended his campaign for a fourth term and announced his nomination by President Obama as deputy secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

With the county facing a projected $110 million general fund shortfall over the next two years, after $93 million in cuts this year, budget problems dominated the election.

The outsiders — Hunter, Hutchison and Jarrett — said Constantine and Phillips did too little as County Council members to control spending, citing employees' guaranteed cost-of-living raises, the county's full coverage of employee health-care premiums and the council's adoption of a property tax to fund a passenger-ferry district.

Constantine told voters he had worked to rein in spending through legislation calling for performance measures, and Phillips pointed to his vote against a labor agreement that will raise sheriff deputies' pay 25 percent over five years.

Both had strong support from labor unions, environmentalists and local Democratic Party organizations.

Hutchison, a former KIRO-TV news anchor who now runs the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, was widely viewed as the front-runner from the moment she announced her candidacy.

That left four Democratic officeholders jostling to make it through the primary to face Hutchison in the Nov. 3 general election.

Hutchison, in her first run for public office, now faces the challenge of running without a party label against a Democrat at a time when Democrats dominate most countywide elections.

Although voters last year made the executive a nonpartisan office, the primary was never free of party politics.

Constantine, Hunter, Jarrett and Phillips made no secret of their Democratic affiliation, while Hutchison — who has donated to Republican candidates in the past — said she wasn't affiliated with any party and was running because the office is nonpartisan.

Constantine began to pull ahead of the other Democrats in polls after he aggressively attacked Hutchison, saying she was ducking debates to hide her conservative Republican beliefs. Phillips claimed she didn't understand the workings of King County government.

Hutchison, who said it was time for someone other than "professional politicians" to run the county, fought an attempt by The Seattle Times and other news organizations to unseal court records in a suit she filed in 2003 against KIRO over her demotion and termination. The records were unsealed this month by a judge's order.

Constantine spent 10 years fighting a gravel company's plan to ship sand and gravel off Maury Island by barge. He reached out to younger voters through online social networks and his ties to the rock-music industry.

Staff reporter Bob Young contributed to this report.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com