In November, the District will have the closest thing to a competitive mayoral general election in 20 years. While independent candidates David Catania and Carol Schwartz working to make the ballot, though, the D.C. Republican Party—-the District’s second-largest party in terms of registration—-is nowhere to be found.

The party didn’t have any primary candidates in April, and four-time Republican mayoral hopeful Carol Schwartz wouldn’t run for the GOP even after party leadership asked her, opting instead to enter the race as an independent.

Without any primary contenders, Republicans will vote for their mayoral nominee at their membership meeting next Thursday. The party hasn’t publicized its list of candidates, but attorney and former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kris Hammond announced his plans to run for the nomination last Monday in an email to the party faithful.

“I’m not under any illusions about how difficult this campaign will be, and I think I’d receive less discouragement if I told people I was trying out for the Wizards,” Hammond wrote in the email obtained by LL.

Hammond’s platform—-“smarter, pro-growth, pro-freedom government”—-sounded red enough to win over Republicans at Thursday’s vote. Hammond had even left his job in the Department of Justice for his quixotic bid.

“I’ve resigned from the Department of Justice and have fully committed myself to running for Mayor of our great city,” Hammond wrote.

Not so fast. LL emailed Hammond about his mayoral bid yesterday, only to find that Hammond has decided to pursue other interests (perhaps trying out for the Wizards, after all?).

“After careful consideration, I have decided to not run for Mayor,” Hammond writes LL.

It’s not clear who’s left for the District’s lonely pachyderms to choose from. One Republican wag who plans to attend Thursday’s meeting tells LL that he doesn’t think there are any candidates left.

For his part, D.C. GOP executive director Robert Turner II declined to comment to LL about whether anyone else is running for the nomination.

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