Evans announced that he would not seek reelection in November 2006 and retired at the end of the 109th Congress, due to the increasingly debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease.

Evans was born in 1951 in Rock Island, Illinois,[1] and attended Alleman High School and Augustana College there.

Evans got a significant boost when 16-year incumbent Tom Railsback was defeated for renomination by the more conservative Republican, State Senator Kenneth McMillan.

Evans earned the highest opposition (90%) to President Reagan's agenda of any congress member during his first congressional session[3] and then handily defeated McMillan in a 1984 rematch.

This emboldened the Republicans for 1996, when Evans faced Mark Baker, an anchor at WGEM-TV in Quincy (the third-largest city in the district).

[9] In 2019 his biography "Guts: The Lane Evans Story" was published by Strong Arm Press, authored by Devin Hansen.

[6] On June 27, 2005, Evans' campaign committee agreed to pay $185,000 to settle an investigation by the Federal Election Commission.

The inquiry stemmed from allegations of illegal coordination between the 17th District Victory Fund, the Rock Island Democratic Central Committee and the congressman's campaign during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles.

The contributions exceeded federal limits and included funds from prohibited sources, in violation of FECA.The Rock Island Democratic Central Committee, for its part, agreed to a civil penalty of $30,000.

[11] On November 5, 2014, Evans died at the age of 63 in a nursing home in East Moline, Illinois, from complications brought on by Parkinson's disease.