Campaign pronounced dead

What is up with this?

Orleans Parish Coroner Dr. Jeffrey Rouse is calling off his re-election campaign, in which his only challenger is a convicted felon he defeated for the post 3 1/2 years ago.

Nearing the end of his first term in office, Rouse made the stunning announcement in a statement issued Thursday, long after the deadline to get his name off the ballot for the Oct. 14 race pitting him against Dr. Dwight McKenna, 75, publisher of The New Orleans Tribune newspaper.

Votes cast in favor of Rouse, who intends to complete his first term, will still count.

So, if he wins, he would have to hand in a resignation that would take effect at the start of his second term to avoid serving it. That would set up his deputy coroner as an interim replacement, until voters could choose a replacement during a special election which would most likely be held in the spring next year.

Nonetheless, Rouse on Thursday endorsed the idea of McKenna being his successor, going so far as to congratulate him "on becoming the first African-American coroner of our great city."

This office has a sordid history with regard to the role it has played in our famous systemic criminal justice corruption.  So it raises eyebrows when the coroner just up and quits like this.  The closest thing to a reason this article provides is that doing the work made Rouse sad.