Ryan Corcoran dropped out of the race for City Council District 8 Monday night, just one day prior to the primary election against Ald. Austin King and Kami Eshraghi.

Corcoran’s name will still appear on the ballot today, and he could still legally be elected, according to King.

“I dropped out of the race,” Corcoran said. “I erroneously wrote a very negative article in The Badger Herald, and I’ve withdrawn because of this. I apologized to Austin King.”

King said he welcomed Corcoran’s apology regarding the guest opinion column printed Monday in The Badger Herald, but dropping out of the race was the last thing he thought Corcoran would do. King said he believes Corcoran realized the campaign was making him do things he would not normally do.

“This is clearly unexpected — to go from a mean-spirited attack piece on me this morning in the Herald, to dropping out of the race,” King said. “I think he was a little scared of what he saw himself becoming, and he wanted to rescue himself.”

King said he is afraid the loss of a candidate could decrease voter turnout in today’s election. Corcoran could still win the primary election tomorrow, which could prevent one of the two active candidates from securing a seat on the City Council during the spring elections. The top two vote-getters will move on to vie for the seat during the April 5 election.

“It’s important that people get out and vote,” Corcoran said. “I can’t get off the ballot so people should still vote, but not for me.”

Eshraghi said he hopes there are other reasons, besides the guest column, why Corcoran dropped out of the race. According to Eshraghi, this may be a strategy that will prevent himself from getting elected.

“If my supporters decide that I’m in and don’t vote for me, I could be knocked out of the primary,” Eshraghi said. “If my voters decide I’m a shoe-in, Ryan technically could win the election.”

According to Kimia Lounge owner Eshraghi, Corcoran said he felt very strongly about this campaign, regardless of rumors. It is very surprising and sad Corcoran will not be running for District 8, he added.

“I was looking forward to debating Ryan if he was going to be genuine candidate,” Eshraghi said. “I hope that his supporters can now embrace me as the person that can truly represent them.”

According to Suzanne Smith, member of the League of Women Voters of Dane County, a group encouraging citizens to become active in local government, only the districts with more than two candidates have a primary election. District 8 and four other districts are the only districts of the 20 total wards in Madison to have primary elections today.

“Because turnout is traditionally so low in the spring, your vote has that much more weight,” King said.

King added it is especially important for the entire city to vote because the race for the state superintendent of public instruction, the only publicly elected member of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, also takes place this spring.

Constituents of District 8, which includes the Southeast Dorms, Memorial Union and the College Court areas can find their polling place by calling the League of Women Voters’ office at 232-9447 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gordon Commons is a polling place for those who live in the Southeast Dorms and all polling places will open until 8 p.m.