diff --git a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerder.java b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerder.java
index 86e9e81853f76..e59025dd50497 100644
--- a/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerder.java
+++ b/connect/runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerder.java
@@ -316,8 +316,13 @@ public void tick() {
         try {
             // if we failed to read to end of log before, we need to make sure the issue was resolved before joining group
             // Joining and immediately leaving for failure to read configs is exceedingly impolite
-            if (!canReadConfigs && !readConfigToEnd(workerSyncTimeoutMs))
-                return; // Safe to return and tick immediately because readConfigToEnd will do the backoff for us
+            if (!canReadConfigs) {
+                if (readConfigToEnd(workerSyncTimeoutMs)) {
+                    canReadConfigs = true;
+                } else {
+                    return; // Safe to return and tick immediately because readConfigToEnd will do the backoff for us
+                }
+            }
 
             log.debug("Ensuring group membership is still active");
             member.ensureActive();
@@ -1105,7 +1110,9 @@ private boolean handleRebalanceCompleted() {
             // we timed out. This should only happen if we failed to read configuration for long enough,
             // in which case giving back control to the main loop will prevent hanging around indefinitely after getting kicked out of the group.
             // We also indicate to the main loop that we failed to readConfigs so it will check that the issue was resolved before trying to join the group
-            if (!readConfigToEnd(workerSyncTimeoutMs)) {
+            if (readConfigToEnd(workerSyncTimeoutMs)) {
+                canReadConfigs = true;
+            } else {
                 canReadConfigs = false;
                 needsRejoin = true;
             }
diff --git a/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerderTest.java b/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerderTest.java
index 570f398c6b090..8cf485ac9fa9f 100644
--- a/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerderTest.java
+++ b/connect/runtime/src/test/java/org/apache/kafka/connect/runtime/distributed/DistributedHerderTest.java
@@ -1668,6 +1668,11 @@ public Boolean answer() throws Throwable {
         member.poll(EasyMock.anyInt());
         PowerMock.expectLastCall();
 
+        // one more tick, to make sure we don't keep trying to read to the config topic unnecessarily
+        expectRebalance(1, Collections.emptyList(), Collections.emptyList());
+        member.poll(EasyMock.anyInt());
+        PowerMock.expectLastCall();
+
         PowerMock.replayAll();
 
         long before = time.milliseconds();
@@ -1685,6 +1690,10 @@ public Boolean answer() throws Throwable {
         time.sleep(2000L);
         assertStatistics("leaderUrl", false, 3, 1, 100, 2000L);
 
+        // tick once more to ensure that the successful read to the end of the config topic was 
+        // tracked and no further unnecessary attempts were made
+        herder.tick();
+
         PowerMock.verifyAll();
     }