Virginia’s former Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox of Colonial Heights launched his campaign for governor Tuesday, saying Democrats have pulled the Commonwealth too far left.

“One-party control in Richmond … tearing our state apart. No one would be faulted for feeling anxious, pessimistic about our future,” he says in a campaign ad. “We have to fight back.”

Cox is one of two Republicans who have declared they will compete in the primary ahead of next year’s election; his sole rival is state Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield), a Trump supporter who has organized rallies to bolster the baseless claim that Democrats stole the 2020 election.

Cox worked for 30 years as a schoolteacher and served from 2018 – 2020 as Virginia’s House Speaker. First elected to the House in 1989, he faced a difficult reelection last year after a federal judge ordered his district redrawn to undo racial gerrymandering. Still, in a year when Democrats made sweeping gains and flipped the General Assembly, Cox out-raised his opponent Sheila Bynum-Coleman and beat her by more than four points.

Former Republican Del. Dave Albo of Fairfax County said Cox likely drew on his strengths as a well-known and liked teacher who invited his students to watch the legislative process. Albo said Cox was reliable, thorough, and knew the budget well.

“Studious,” Albo said of Cox. “He is really detail-oriented. He likes to know everything about an issue before he jumps in.”

As Speaker, Cox opposed abortion and torpedoed discussion of gun control measures following a shooting in Virginia Beach that killed 12 city employees. Still, he navigated compromises. In 2018 he supported expanding Medicaid, breaking with the Trump Administration as polls showed Virginians overwhelmingly favored adding more low-income people to the program.

Kirk’s rival Chase has raised about $200,000, while public financial data is not yet available for the Cox campaign. In a Facebook address Monday, Chase denounced Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s new coronavirus restrictions, which Northam ordered as a result of spiraling cases in the state and across the country.

“It does not warrant shutting down the economy,” she said. “We are only taking Virginia backwards.”

Cox echoed Chase’s tone in his campaign message, referring to a “self-inflicted recession.”

Sean Perryman, one of the Democratic contenders for lieutenant governor and the president of the Fairfax County NAACP, said Cox’s campaign language “aligns with far-right ideas that this virus is a hoax.”

“I don’t understand how he can think of this as a self-inflicted recession,” said Perryman. “This is a global pandemic that everyone is experiencing together.”

Former Virginia Republican Congressman Tom Davis said Cox was cannily speaking to a Republican base that under Trump had shifted from the suburbs to rural areas.

“It has to be his tone through June. You’ve got to get nominated,” Davis said of Cox. “For a primary election, he’s right where he needs to be.”

Republicans have not won statewide office in Virginia in more than a decade. Still, Virginia nearly always elects a governor from the opposite party as the sitting U.S. president, with the exception of former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Davis said Cox could follow that pattern, and tap into a sense among voters that Democrats were overreaching.

“Democrats have come in and really tried to change the culture” of Virginia, Davis said. “You may see a reaction on the part of voters to turn to somebody like Cox. I don’t think they would turn to Amanda Chase. I think that that would be a bridge too far.”

So far, McAuliffe has submitted his paperwork to run for the Democratic nomination for governor, although he has not formally launched a campaign. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, state Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond, and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy of Prince William have already announced they are seeking the Democratic nomination.