[2][citation needed] Gorton practiced law and entered politics in 1958, being elected to the Washington House of Representatives, in which he served from 1959 until 1969, becoming one of its highest-ranking members.

He hired trial lawyer William Lee Dwyer to oversee the case and eventually withdrew following the league's approval of a second expansion team—the Seattle Mariners, who began play in 1977.

[6][7] Years later, he approached Nintendo President Minoru Arakawa and Chairman Howard Lincoln in his search to find a buyer for the Mariners.

Arakawa's father-in-law, Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi, agreed to buy a majority stake in the team, preventing a potential move to Tampa.

[8][9] Gorton later helped broker a deal between King County officials and Mariners ownership on what is now called T-Mobile Park.

[2] Gorton ran for the state's other Senate seat, which was being vacated by political ally Daniel J. Evans, in 1988 and won, defeating liberal Congressman Mike Lowry by a narrow margin.

[11][12][13] His reelection strategy centered on running up high vote totals in areas outside of left-leaning King County (home to Seattle).

[citation needed] In 2000, Democrat Maria Cantwell turned his "it's time for a change" strategy against him and won by 2,229 votes out of nearly 2.5 million cast.

[28] Gorton opposed the candidacy of Donald Trump for President of the United States in 2016, instead writing in Independent candidate Evan McMullin.

[31] Gorton died after a brief illness with complications of Parkinson's disease on August 19, 2020 at the home of his daughter, Sarah Nortz in Clyde Hill, Washington, age 92.