Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax announced on Thursday he will file paperwork to enter next year’s race for governor.

“I plan to file today to run for governor of the commonwealth of Virginia in 2021,” Fairfax said in an interview with the Washington Post in Richmond. Fairfax became the second African American elected to state office in Virginia in January 2018 and previously served as a federal prosecutor.

The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race has the potential to become historic with Democratic candidates State Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) and Del. Jennifer Carrol Foy (D-Prince William) in the race. Virginia has never elected a woman as Governor, and the country has yet to see a Black woman as state executive. Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe filed paperwork last month, but has said he will not make a decision to run until after the general election in November. Virginia law prohibits governors from serving back-to-back terms.

If Fairfax wins, he would be the second African American governor elected to the office—Lawrence Douglas Wilder became the first in 1990. State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) is the only declared Republican candidate candidate so far.

Also Thursday, Republican Del. Glenn Davis of Virginia Beach announced he was running for his party’s nomination for lieutenant governor. Former Fairfax Del. Tim Hugo has said he may run on the Republican side as well. Democratic Del. Hala Ayala of Prince William is running on the Democratic side, and Del. Elizabeth Guzman (D-Prince William) and Fairfax County NAACP President Sean Perryman have also said they are exploring running in the Democratic primary for the second-highest position in the state.

Sexual assault allegations run in the background for Fairfax, who told WAMU in an exclusive interview last December that the two accusations against him were false and politically motivated.

“Meredith Watson fabricated the story and told this brazenly false story on national TV to millions of people,” he said, referring to his second accuser, who in February said Fairfax committed “premeditated and aggressive” sexual assault when they were both students at Duke University.

But some say the allegations will be an obstacle for Fairfax. “I do think the sexual assault allegations are going to weigh his campaign down because there has been no definitive closure on them and that will mean they will get re-hashed during the primary,” said Quentin Kidd, professor of political science at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va.

Fairfax said as lieutenant governor he broke a long tradition of honoring Confederate generals in Virginia’s State Senate. According to the Washington Post, Fairfax will appear at the Historic Fairfax County Courthouse on Saturday where files containing the document that freed his great-great-great grandfather, Simon Fairfax, from bondage in 1798 are housed.

“Democrats feel very emboldened about 2021 as evidenced by the number of candidates running (and more are coming), and so Fairfax is making a calculated decision that this is the time to make a run for the top job,” said Kidd.

Daniella Cheslow contributed to this reporting.