Former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans has withdrawn from the special election necessitated by his resignation earlier this year, Evans confirmed to DCist on Wednesday.

Evans is still running for the Ward 2 seat in the Democratic primary, which would grant him a new four-year term. But he will not seek to finish out the term he resigned from in disgrace, after multiple investigations found him guilty of committing repeated ethics violations. The Washington Post was the first to report the news.

Asked what caused him to change his mind about running in the special election after initially throwing his hat in the ring, Evans said he “gave it more thought since then” and decided against it.

He pointed DCist to his statement to the Post. “I have decided it is best to not seek to run for the position which I resigned from in January and instead focus on a new start for the next four years,” Evans told the outlet. “Not running in the special is also a way of showing my sincere regret for the mistakes I made.”

Evans resigned from his position in January to avoid nearly certain expulsion; his colleagues had already taken one unanimous vote to recommend booting him from the seat.

When he announced he was running again, it wasn’t met warmly in many quarters. The entire D.C. Council signed a rare unanimous letter publicly condemning the decision. At a candidate forum earlier this month, Evans’ attempts to apologize and win the crowd were met with boos and jeers.

However, Evans—who was the city’s longest running lawmaker—did manage to collect enough signatures to appear on the June 2 primary ballot.

If he wins the primary election, the council will have another member for about six months before Evans takes back the seat (in heavily Democratic D.C., the primary is functionally election day).

The special election takes place two weeks after the primary, on June 16. Seven people are running, six Democrats and one Republican: Brooke Pinto, John Fanning, Jordan Grossman, Patrick Kennedy, Kishan Putta, Yilin Zhang, and Katherine Venice. Another Democrat, Daniel Hernandez, is running in the primary but not the special election.

Evans has also held on to his seat as national committeeman for the D.C. Democratic Party, and he says he still plans to represent D.C. at the Democratic National Convention in July. “People thought Joe Biden was dead in the water,” he told DCist earlier this month. “So I mean, politics is a funny business you know?”

Previously:
Jack Evans Will Be A Superdelegate This Year, Whether Democratic Party Officials Like It Or Not
Jack Evans Apologized And Asked Ward 2 For His Job Back. He Was Met With Boos
Jack Evans Resigned 10 Days Ago. He Just Filed For Reelection