Jack Evans has officially resigned from DC Council. In a letter dated Tuesday, Jan. 7, the Ward 2 Democrat said that his resignation would be effective as of Friday, Jan. 17.
Evans, 66, has been councilmember for Ward 2 since 1991, replacing John A. Wilson. He is the DC Council’s longest serving lawmaker with 29 years in office. He previously served as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Dupont Circle. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1998 and 2014, but both times lost in the Democratic primary.
Evans was Chairman of the Board of the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) and of the Council Committee on Finance and Revenue until 2019, when he was removed following an ethics investigation into allegations that he used his position for personal gain. His home was raided by the FBI in June 2019.
On Dec. 3, an Ad-Hoc Committee of the DC Council voted to support a recommendation to expel Evans. The expulsion vote was to have been held Jan. 21, and if it had taken place Evans could have been the first to be so expelled from council. Evans submitted the letter prior to a hearing at which he was to have spoken on the case for his dismissal before DC Council.
The DC Board of Elections will now schedule a special election for a Ward 2 Councilmember who would serve the rest of Evans’s term. The Ward 2 Council seat is up for grabs again in the 2020 election, with the Democratic primary set for June.
