Before being elected to public office Esteves volunteered for the city and was a commission member; in 1998, Esteves was elected to the Milpitas city council. He then became mayor in 2002; he went on to serve three consecutive terms, then left office for two years, and was elected to be mayor of Milpitas again in 2010. To serve one of those consecutive terms, he defeated former mayor Henry Manayan in 2006. Manayan, who was the first Filipino American mayor elected in the United States. Esteves unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2008, coming in last place (with about 27% of the vote) in the three-way primary.</ref>