A socialist mayor whose town voted for far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the first round of France’s presidential election says he’s considering resigning because he doesn’t want to “dedicate” his life to “assholes.”

Daniel Delomez, who has served as mayor of Annezin, northern France, since 2008, used the derogatory term “connards” to describe his fellow citizens to a journalist from L’Avenir de L’Artois on Sunday.

Le Pen en tête à #Annezin, colère du maire : "il est possible que je démissionne car je ne veux pas consacrer ma vie à des connards" pic.twitter.com/2NSgeJjyDS — L'Avenir de l'Artois (@avenirartois) April 23, 2017

Delomez later said he regretted using the offensive word, which he insisted is “not part of my vocabulary.” He said he was reacting in shock and anger when authorities announced the outcome of first-round ballots.

The mayor said it was a “catastrophe” and a vote of “hatred and rejection” that more than 38 percent of the population of Annezin voted for Le Pen, who announced Tuesday that she’s stepping down as leader of the far-right, populist National Front party.

The second choice of his town was the far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who won over 19 percent of the vote.

Delomez’s straight-talk tweeted on the L’Avenir site won plenty of praise from people calling him the “hero of the day,” a genius and “my idol.” One Twitter user declared, “send that man some flowers.” Others tweeted, “Au revoir!”

The mayor said he was seriously considering quitting and would decide what to do after meeting with his associates.

Le Pen, and independent candidate Emmanuel Macron, who won the most votes in the first round, will face each other in the final race on May 7.

CORRECTION: Melenchon was originally misidentified as Delomez.