[4] After being elected without general election opposition to his 7th term in the state house, Seaton joined a majority coalition of Democrats, Independents, and two other Republicans, with an avowed goal of ameliorating the state's budget deficit, the latter a product of declining oil revenues, budgeting, and prior taxation restructuring.

[5][6] While campaigning early in 2016, Seaton said he doubted the Legislature could continue to successfully organize "simply on partisan grounds," and that legislators needed to address the budgetary crisis.

[7] Seaton filed for re-election as a nonpartisan candidate and ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Three Republicans filed to challenge him in the general election: Jon Cox, Sarah Vance, and Hank Kroll.

He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1974 to 1976 where he studied the crustacean population ecology.