D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine says he will not seek another term in office or run for another elected position in 2022. The news curtails long-running speculation about Racine’s political ambitions — including a potential mayoral run — and also brings to end a busy tenure for the city’s first-ever elected attorney general.

“It has been the privilege and honor of my life to serve the city that embraced and supported my mother and father who immigrated here from Haiti in 1963,” Racine said in a statement emailed to DCist/WAMU. “While this decision was not made lightly, it makes most sense for my family and me right now.”

The Washington Post first reported the news of his decision.

Racine told the newspaper that he hopes his decision will allow the field of potential successors to grow and develop over the months before the Nov. 2022 election. So far, local lawyer Ryan Jones is the only person to file papers to run for the position. (Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie has expressed interest in the office, but has not officially entered the race.)

Racine was originally elected attorney general in 2014, and easily won reelection in 2018. The post was previously appointed by the D.C. mayor. Early in his tenure, he sparred with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over how much power the city’s top law enforcement official should have, and he was instrumental in reshaping the role as an elected official.

Racine’s name has been floated as a potential challenger to Bowser since 2018, when he chose to run for reelection instead. And his influence in D.C. politics reaches beyond his own tenure: four sitting D.C. lawmakers (At-Large Councilmember Robert White, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, and Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto) have prior connections to Racine and his office.

As early as last month, in an appearance on The Politics Hour, Racine said he hadn’t chosen whether to run for a third term as attorney general, run for mayor, or return to private practice.

“With respect to my current political plans, I, too, kinda get frustrated with my own self,” he said. “I would like to make a final and firm decision and make it public. Here’s the deal, I’m not there yet.”

Racine, 58, became a father in March. “I’ve always found great purpose in my work in public service and took on the role as attorney general because of my passion for young people and my desire to ensure that all children grow up with the opportunities I was blessed with,” he wrote in a post on Instagram at the time. “Now, that sense of purpose is even more personal.”

As attorney general, Racine developed a reputation as an advocate for tenants’ rights, consumer protection, criminal justice reforms, and violence prevention.

Racine, who currently serves as the president of the National Association of Attorneys General, also achieved some national prominence in bringing a lawsuit against now-former President Donald Trump for violating the emoluments clause, an anti-corruption measure in the Constitution that prevents public officials from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments without Congressional approval. Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh argued that foreign officials spending money at Trump businesses — like the D.C. Trump Hotel — constituted a breach of the law.

Under Racine, the D.C. Office of the Attorney General frequently brought suit against individual and corporate landlords for property neglect like mold and vermin; discrimination against housing voucher holders; and discrimination against prospective tenants on the grounds of race, disability, source of income and for having recently lived in shelter housing. He also used lawsuits against property owners as a strategy to try to bring down crime and violence.

Some landlords who came under Racine’s legal scrutiny paid significant settlements. The former property owner of two apartment complexes in Southeast D.C. paid tenants, nonprofits, and the District $3.5 million after mismanaging the buildings and allowing unsafe living conditions to flourish. Another accused slumlord, Sanford Capital, paid more than $1 million to tenants over deferred maintenance and poor conditions. At least one landlord was arrested for contempt of court in a case brought by Racine.

Racine also focused extensively on reforming D.C.’s justice system, particularly in the way it treats youth. Racine’s office set up and currently presides over a restorative justice program that brings together the accused with victims to attempt to reach a resolution that doesn’t involve incarceration or increased contact with the legal system. The program has conducted over 150 mediations, and there are some early indications that youth who go through the restorative justice model are 15% less likely to reoffend than if they had gone through traditional juvenile justice channels, according to background provided with Racine’s announcement.

More recently, Racine authored a bill being considered by the D.C. Council that would push all cases of minors accused of crimes into family court — unless a judge ordered otherwise. Currently, the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes most violent crime in the city, has the discretion whether to charge a minor as an adult.

Under Racine, the attorney general’s office also focused on preventing community violence, setting up the Cure the Streets violence interruption program, which employs trusted community messengers to intervene to help stop the spread of violence in Wards 5, 7, and 8.

Racine also brought a lawsuit last year against a manufacturer of so-called ghost guns — firearms that are partially assembled and whose origins are untraceable — for marketing the product to D.C. consumers.

Many other companies have been on the receiving end of Racine’s extensive consumer protection litigation, which has resulted in a total of $12 million in payouts for wronged or misled consumers, according to the announcement. Under Racine, the office has sued a wide variety of companies — including grocery delivery app Instacart, car-sharing app Getaround, gas retailer Capitol Petroleum Group, Washington Sports Clubs (many, many times) Marriott, Amazon, Facebook, a big group of fossil fuel companies, and more — for deceptive or harmful practices towards customers.

In one notable case, Racine sued food delivery company DoorDash for misleading customers into thinking that their tips were going to drivers, when in fact the company was pocketing them. In the settlement, DoorDash paid $1.5 million to restitution, which was returned to drivers.

In the announcement of his decision not to run again in 2022, Racine emphasized that he plans to continue pushing his priorities forward in the more than a year remaining in his term.

“I want to make clear that for the next 15 months of my term as attorney general, I will be working as hard as ever for District residents,” his statement reads. “We have so much that we’re working on to stand up for vulnerable DC residents, including workers, tenants, and seniors; pushing forward to reform the juvenile justice system; and much more.”

Rachel Kurzius contributed reporting.