Photo by michael starghill

Michael A. Brown doesn’t want to stay off the D.C. Council for very long. Two months after being defeated while running a campaign beset by cloudy finances, he is jumping in to the April 23 special election to fill out the remainder of an at-large term vacated by now-Chairman Phil Mendelson.

Brown, who held an at-large seat from 2009 until today, was defeated soundly in last November’s general election by now-Councilmember David Grosso. After hinting last month that he was leaning toward getting in the special election, Brown made it official this morning with a visit to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics to pick up ballot access petition forms and to register as a candidate.

Brown’s decision was made public by the Twitter account of the D.C. Board of Elections:

Michael A. Brown, Democrat, picked up petitions for At-Large Member of the Council this morning.

— DCBOEE (@DCBOEE) January 2, 2013

Only this time around, Brown gets to run with his preferred party designation. During his four years on the Council, Brown, because of the D.C. Charter’s rules stating that the majority party can hold only half the at-large seats, served as an independent. But as the son of the late Ron Brown, who served as President Bill Clinton’s commerce secretary, Michael A. Brown has never shied away from positioning himself as a Democratic Party scion. (He has also long complained about appearing on the same ballot as shadow senator Michael D. Brown, which will not be an issue in the special election.)

Brown, now a Democrat, has until January 23 to collect the 3,000 signatures needed to get on the ballot. Other Democrats, though, have had a few days’ or weeks’ head start, including former D.C. Council candidate A.J. Cooper, budget analyst Elissa Silverman and Councilmember Anita Bonds, who is angling to hold on to the seat to which she was appointed last month.