Former Rep. George Santos has ended his short-lived run to get back into the U.S. House of Representatives, he announced on social media Tuesday evening.

Santos, who was expelled from the House in December, wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he is dropping out of the race because he does not want to “be responsible for handing the house” to the Democrats.

He initially launched a Republican primary challenge in New York’s 1st Congressional District, which covers large sections of the eastern part of Long Island, against current Rep. Nick LaLota in early March, before announcing he would run as an independent instead later that month.

Santos said Tuesday he did not want his run to be portrayed as a “reprisal” against LaLota, who helped organize the effort to have Santos expelled from Congress. LaLota had said to NY1 in an interview in March that he expected that Santos’ initial primary challenge was “retaliation for that.”

Santos was expelled from the House after a report by the House Committee on Ethics found found that there was “substantial evidence” that he violated federal laws. The reported alleged that Santos “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal profit.” He became only the sixth House member to be removed in U.S. history.

The Queens native faces 23 federal charges related to embezzlement and fraud that include charges of wire fraud and lying to federal election officials, among others. He pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in October, but he told NY1 in an interview last month that his attorneys were still working with prosecutors on a plea deal at that time.