A member of the Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) party, he has been the president (mayor) of the Polish city of Białystok since 5 December 2006, succeeding Ryszard Tur of the Christian National Union.

On 3 April 2007 he was habilitated at the University of Białystok after defending a second dissertation entitled Transport and dynamics of economic growth in the Southeastern Baltic.

He was employed by Rządowe Centrum Studiów Strategicznych (Government Centre for Strategic Studies) where he worked on the regional planning of Poland.

He directed the Department of Regional Politics in Marshal's Office of Podlaskie Voivodeship, where he obtained 52 million euros from the European Union's PHARE program to help ease Poland's accession to the EU.

In the 2024 Polish local elections, he successfully ran for re-election on the endorsement of the Civic Coalition, receiving 53.32% of the votes in the first round, winning a fifth term.

In his speech he urged attendees to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the originator of Esperanto by attending the 2009 World Congress in Ludwik Zemenhof's home town of Białystok.