Constantine Claims Win, Hutchison Waits

Amy Radil
11/04/2009

Dow Constantine has declared victory in the race for King County Executive, although his opponent Susan Hutchison has yet to concede. Tuesday's results were a striking reversal for Hutchison, who led the race after the August primary.

Susan Hutchison says she's still hopeful that her campaign focused on job creation and reforming county government will overtake Constantine's 15–point lead. But most supporters at her election night party in Bellevue were less optimistic. King County Councilmember Reagan Dunn called a recovery unlikely. He says while the county executive's race is technically nonpartisan, county council chair Constantine was effective at casting it in partisan terms.

Dunn: "King County is something like 67–68 percent Democratic and one of Dow's key messages was 'I'm a Democrat, she's a Republican,' and I think that had a substantial impact."

Throughout the campaign, Constantine has used the term "shared values" to allude to the fact that he's a Democrat, while Hutchison has many Republican ties. Speaking at his election night party, he says voters made their choice based on those values.

Constantine: "And they start looking at their voters' pamphlet and paying attention, they realize one candidate shares their values, one does not."

Hutchison, a former KIRO anchor who now runs a foundation, emerged from the primary with a strong lead. But that seemed to erode in the past two weeks. She put the blame for that change squarely on attack ads sponsored by Constantine's supporters.

Hutchison: "They were false, they were misleading, they were misrepresentations of me. And that's what changed the momentum."

Those ads brought up issues like abortion which Hutchison says have nothing to do with county government. County Councilmember Reagan Dunn says he didn't think any of the attack ads on either side were too "below the belt." He says the race came down to questions of experience, of county demographics, and money. Constantine raised nearly $300,000 more than Hutchison.

I'm Amy Radil, KUOW News.

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