Updated Nov 4, 2009 - 1:44 pm
Councilman Constantine wins King Co Executive race
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County Council Chairman Dow Constantine has defeated former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison in the race for King County Executive.
The first round of ballots counted by King County showed Dow Constantine with a 14-percent lead over opponent Susan Hutchison.
In a post on Twitter Constantine wrote "Thank you! We won," before going on to give a victory speech thanking his supporters.
"Well that was over quick wasn't it. Just nine months of working everyday, then 15 minutes of waiting for those results," Constantine said to the crowd.
"We are looking forward to the rest of the vote as it comes in," said Hutchison in a speech to supporters that stopped short of a concession.
With 39 percent of the expected vote counted in Tuesday's election, Constantine led Hutchison with roughly 57 percent to her 43 percent - a gap of more than 34,000 votes. More than 244,000 votes have been tallied by county election workers.
Although voters in the largely Democratic county made the position nonpartisan last year, Constantine is a veteran Democratic politician, while Hutchison has strong ties to Republican politicians and some conservative causes.
Hutchison said she thinks "attack ads" made the difference, in the final days of the campaign.
"They were false, they were misleading. They were misrepresentations of me and that's what changed the momentum," said Hutchison.
Hutchison stayed at her party late into the evening thanking volunteers and chatting with supporters.
Constantine said he encourages Hutchison supporters to keep a close eye on him and hold him to his campaign promises. "We begin by appointing the best people to help as part of our team; Republicans, Democrats, Independents, people from across the county."
Constantine takes over in two weeks to fill the remainder of Ron Sims' term.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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