The deadline for candidates to be added to the ballot has passed, and White still has until Sept. 12 to drop his name. However, as he is the only Democratic candidate in the deep-blue district and it is a presidential election year, he is likely to beat his Republican challenger, Nate Derenge.

However several of White’s political rivals and other Democratic leaders in Ward 8 are flirting with the idea of running as a write-in for city councilman.

Among the write-in candidates are Markus Batchelor, a former State Board of Education representative; Olivia Henderson, an ex-Bellevue advisory neighborhood commissioner; Salim Adofo, a Congress Heights advisory neighborhood commissioner; Rahman Branch, a former Ballou High School Principal; and Charles Wilson, the head of the District of Columbia Democratic Party.

“When the carcass falls to the ground, the buzzards start to swarm,” Stuart Anderson, the second vice president of the Ward 8 Democrats, told the Washington City Paper. While Anderson assisted in White’s 2016 campaign, he has since worked to see him removed from office.

But even this scandal hasn’t shaken White’s supporters who consider him to be “the people’s champ.” One of his supporters allegedly assaulted one of the men who turned White into the FBI outside of a Maryland restaurant, according to an Instagram story.

Write-in candidates rarely receive the support needed to get elected, with the exception being Tony Williams, an incumbent mayor who was forced to run a write-in campaign in 2002 after being removed from the Democratic ticket for campaign violations.

“To run a write-in, you’re either showing your misunderstanding of the process or just trying to make a statement,” at-large SBOE representative Jacque Patterson told the Washington City Paper. “If Trayon White’s name is on the ballot, he’s going to win.”

White is expected to use his seat in a plea agreement as prosecutors in past cases have reduced penalties against elected officials if they resign.

The Council of the District of Columbia, which already sought to boot White five years ago due to ethical violations, has established a new ad hoc committee to investigate his conduct and allegations that he doesn’t live in the ward but rather in a luxury high-rise in Navy Yard.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

The Council’s ad hoc committee is expected to give its findings regarding possible sanctions on White by Dec. 16.

If White does win his reelection bid in November, the D.C. Council would wait to hold a vote on his tenure until after he is sworn in in January 2025, which could lead to a special election.