Jack Evans, the longest-serving legislator in D.C. history who resigned earlier this month amid an ongoing ethics scandal, just filed to run for election as Ward 2 councilmember yet again.

Evans resigned under the near-certainty that his D.C. Council colleagues would have otherwise expelled him. But it seems he wants to return to the Wilson Building.

He just filed with the D.C. Board of Elections to run in two separate, crowded Ward 2 elections: the special June 16 election to fill the seat that he vacated, and the June primary for the new term, which is being held two weeks prior. The news was first reported by veteran D.C. reporter Tom Sherwood. When reached by phone, Evans declined to comment, saying that there would be a statement “at some point.”

This weekend provided a hint that Evans wasn’t quite done with public life. He marched in the Lunar New Year parade next to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. Mendelson’s spokesperson, Lindsey Walton, told the Washington Post that the chairman “thought it was inappropriate that Evans was walking with elected officials.”

So far, the majority of sitting members of the D.C. Council have been united in their condemnation of Evans’ bid for reelection. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said at a news conference on Tuesday that he couldn’t support Evans’ candidacy, remarking that the “ink is hardly dry on the investigative report.” At-large councilmembers David Grosso, Elissa Silverman, and Robert White, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, and Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd  all used words like “preposterous,” “outrageous,” and “unbelievable” to respond to the news on Twitter, and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen noted that Evans “hasn’t even received his last paycheck from a job he had to quit to avoid being fired from. The District will spend $1 million on a special election to replace him – and he says he’s running in it? This is unbelievable. DC deserves better than this.”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, who chaired the committee that investigated Evans and ultimately voted unanimously in favor of expelling him, calls her former colleague’s decision “the height of selfishness. He has no appreciation of the disgrace he brought upon himself and the council.”

Cheh tells DCist that the city spent hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating Evans and “the ethical violations were overwhelming, which was why we voted unanimously in committee for expulsion. He’s treating it like an inconvenient blip. It’s demoralizing.”

In a statement emailed to DCist, Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie wrote that “Jack Evans filing to run for D.C. Council after having resigned under a cloud of scandal merely 11 days ago does not help restore public confidence in the council and further reinforces my position that his conduct makes him unfit to serve. Ultimately, the voters of Ward 2 will have to decide if they want someone currently under federal investigation to represent them on the council.” Indeed, among the slew of investigations surrounding Evans, the federal probe into Evans’ relationship with clients resulted in subpoenas for other D.C. elected officials and an FBI raid on his Georgetown home last June.

Mendelson wouldn’t comment on whether the council would try again to expel Evans again if he wins.

Mayor Muriel Bowser said she does not plan to get involved in the Ward 2 race, but called Evans’ decision to run “quite sad” at a news conference on Tuesday. She said she hadn’t spoken to Evans since he entered the race, but “we should all call on Jack to do, not what’s best for Jack, but what’s best for the District of Columbia.”

There have been rumors that Evans was seriously considering running for office again in June, despite revelations that he repeatedly violated conflict of interest rules while serving on the D.C. Council and Metro Board of Directors by using his public office to advance private interests. However, Evans has maintained that, while he could have done a better job disclosing his relationships with paid clients, he never tried to act in a corrupt way.

In his resignation letter, Evans touted “the contributions I have made in helping create a vibrant city,” and members of the business community worried that his departure meant that they had lost their most stalwart advocate on the D.C. Council.

Now, it appears his fans may have another chance to boost him.

And Cheh thinks that, with such a crowded field in Ward 2, “it’s not impossible” that Evans could win. “If you’re up for reelection and you qualify for the ballot, then the real answer lies in the hand of the voters … As in many cases where you have multiple candidates, it might be to the benefit of the group to sit down and talk with one another and see who has the best possibility of winning … The reality is that they are going to divide the vote, and are they prepared for the consequences?”

Martin Austermuhle contributed reporting to this story, which has been updated with comment from Jack Evans, Brianne Nadeau, David Grosso, Charles Allen, Brandon Todd, Mary Cheh, Elissa Silverman, Kenyan McDuffie, and Phil Mendelson.