After graduating from the College of Wooster, Celeste and his wife taught school in Fiji via the Peace Corps.

In the Democratic primary, he defeated perennial candidate Marvin McMickle, former State Representative Richard Cordray, and activist Daniel Radakovich 44%-24%-24%-8%.

In 2006, incumbent Republican Geoffrey C. Smith was seen as vulnerable, and Celeste entered the Ohio House race to try and unseat him.

[3] In the general election of that year, Republicans began to run negatively against Celeste, yet he vowed to stay positive in his campaigning.

In the 2008 general election Republicans looked to take back the district, and fielded attorney Timothy Rankin to take on Celeste.

[8] Along with Nickie Antonio, Celeste has introduced legislation to end the death penalty in Ohio.

[10] Celeste has stated that he believes Republicans have embarked upon a "starve the beast" strategy, with their main intent being to hurt the future financial support of the Democratic Party with Senate Bill 5, and the voter-ID bill will make it harder for the traditional base to collect votes.

Currently, he serves on the committees of Health and Aging; Economic and Small Business Development; Education; and State Government and Elections.