Incumbent Issaquah Councilmember David Kappler announced on Thursday that he would not contest the November election.

Kappler’s name was included on the list of candidates filed with the King County Board of elections prior to their June 5 deadline.

But there was suspicion among city insiders earlier in the week that the three-way race for his position, no. 7, would soon be whittled to two.

Those suspicions were proved correct.

Tola Marts and Nathan T. Perea will now contest the election for position no. 7.

In a statement to media outlets released Thursday, Kappler wrote, “after 18 years on the council I have been actively working to encourage new people to run for city council, including for my own seat.”

“Some excellent people showed a great deal of interest, but a combination of family and business issues kept them from being able to make this commitment. Fortunately some great candidates emerged.”

He praised candidate Mark Mullet, who will run unopposed for position no. 1, before throwing his support behind Marts in the race to replace himself.

“Council President McCarry, herself a great candidate for re-election, noticed Tola Marts because of his intelligence, strong work ethic, and successful consensus building skills while working with him on school district issues,” he wrote. “She encouraged him to run for council. After positive reviews about Tola by several council members, my own personal communications with him, and his meeting early this week with a group of my supporters, I chose to withdraw from the race. I plan to fully support him and urge my past supporters to do the same.”

“I did not know Mark or Tola before they decided to run, but I’m thrilled that we will get some new blood on the council from people with young families that have long term plans to be part of the Issaquah community. I’m quite pleased to return to my citizen activist roots and to have more time to spend with my family, including my 93 year old parents still living in their own home in Seattle.”