Monday, April 20, 2026
Former Ward 2 Council member and Georgetown resident Jack Evans ended his campaign for D.C. Council chair on April 16, after the Board of Elections rejected a number of signatures required for his candidacy.
The BOE judged about half the signatures submitted by the Evans campaign to be invalid because of duplicate entries, mistakes on addresses and some signers not registered to vote. Therefore, Evans fell short of the required 2,000 signatures.
Evans said he was surprised by the board’s decision to deny the signatures. “It was clear to me that we just didn’t have them, so I would not have been certified,” Evans told the GW Hatchett. “So I withdrew. … My argument is they should have erred on the side of keeping people on the ballot, not kicking them off the ballot. That’s a fair approach, but they didn’t see it my way.”
One of those who challenged the validity of the Evans signatures was D.C. Council Chair Mendelson’s former campaign manager Eric Rogers. When forms concerning the challenge were printed by Mendelson’s office, Evans sought to show a violation of campaign law. The BOE saw otherwise.
Evans cited the difficulty of mounting a viable campaign against an entrenched incumbent and the realities of fundraising and support.
The 72-year-old Evans represented Ward 2 on the Council from 1991 to 2020. He resigned his seat after the D.C. Council found that he had violated ethics rules. However, by 2022, he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Evans was not charged with any crime. To his critics, Evans says, “Mistakes were made. … It won’t happen again.” Despite the scandal, he remains active in the neighborhood and civic life.
He declared his candidacy for District Council chair in January.
With no major challenger with citywide name recognition in the contest, Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who is seeking another term, is expected to win the Democratic Primary on June 16 and then the General Election on Nov. 3. He has been the chairman since 2012.