Warren resident Jan Malik, who lost his District 67 House of Representatives seat to Barrington attorney Jason Knight two years ago, will try reclaim his seat in the General Assembly this November.

Mr. Malik filed paperwork at Warren Town Hall Wednesday morning to run for the position as an Independent. Running as a Democrat in 2016, Mr. Malik lost to Rep. Knight in the Democratic primary before waging an unsuccessful write-in campaign. He finished second in voting during the general election to Rep. Knight, while beating Libertarian candidate Jason Gould of Warren by several hundred votes.

Though Mr. Malik could not be reached for comment Wednesday, Rep. Knight said he was glad to hear that his familiar opponent is running again:

“My position is that elections are good,” he said. “It’s fantastic that people have choices. I don’t now exactly what his motivation is this time, but I’m sure he’ll let us know.”

The 2016 race was fiercely contested, pitting the long-time legislator from Warren against Mr. Knight, a political newcomer. During the race Mr. Knight made gun control, governmental oversight and domestic violence an issue, saying he would work to reform Rhode Island law and move toward “common sense” gun laws. Mr. Malik spoke of his experience in the General Assembly and chastised Mr. Knight for what he said were inconsistencies between his career as a criminal defense attorney and his platform.

On Wednesday, Mr. Knight said he is proud of his first two years in office, though it wasn’t always easy.

“I was really motivated (to run) by the fact that it seemed like Rhode Island government didn’t work for everyone. I wanted to work toward government that works well, and for everybody,” he said. “I tried to exemplify that by how I did business. I worked hard to return every single communication and be responsive. I think a lot of long-time politicians lose that habit.”