Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe formally announced his bid for his old job on Wednesday, pledging to invest deeply in education as he made the case against his more progressive Democratic rivals.

“If this pandemic has told us anything, we cannot tinker around the edges. We cannot put Virginians through another storm. The old Richmond approach just doesn’t work anymore. Folks, it is time for a new Virginia way,” said McAuliffe, who made his long-expected announcement outside of Miles Jones Elementary School in Richmond.

The former governor and longtime Democratic Party insider was flanked by his three campaign co-chairs, who are among the most prominent African American women and men in Virginia government: Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), House Majority Leader Del. Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria), and Democratic Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.

Their presence may pull away support for McAuliffe’s three African American competitors, including two state lawmakers who would be the first woman elected to the state’s top seat.

McAuliffe’s announcement comes just after Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-Prince William) announced she would step down to focus full-time on her gubernatorial campaign. Both she and state Sen. Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) are running to be the first African American woman to serve as Virginia’s governor. Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is also running on the Democratic side.

On Monday, Del. Lee Carter (D-Manassas) filed a statement of organization for his campaign committee. He told DCist/WAMU that he has not decided yet whether he will run.

“If I don’t hear any other candidates talking about making big transformations to our economic system and our political system in a way that puts power back in the hands of all 8.5 million people who call Virginia home, then I will have to jump in,” he said. “But I’m not there yet.”

Among Republicans, former House Speaker Kirk Cox of Colonial Heights is the sole candidate for the nomination. State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) announced she would run as an independent after the Virginia Republican party announced it would hold a nominating convention, rather than a primary.

As governor from 2014 to 2018, McAuliffe restored voting rights to a record number of formerly incarcerated people. He tried to expand Medicaid, but Republicans blocked him; later, Democratic lawmakers successfully broadened the program. McAuliffe left office because Virginia does not allow governors to serve two consecutive terms.

From the political sidelines, McAuliffe remained in the public eye through relentless campaigning for fellow Democrats. In 2019 he stepped forward to campaign in place of Gov. Ralph Northam (D), who faced calls to resign after his medical school yearbook surfaced showing people in blackface and a KKK hood. McAuliffe stumped for Democratic lawmakers who ultimately flipped the House of Delegates and state Senate.

McAuliffe filed his paperwork to run for governor again last August but said he would hold off on an official announcement until after the 2020 election. In the meantime, his campaigning kept him close to Virginia’s power brokers. In mid-September, he joined House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) and Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) in speaking to early voters outside the Fairfax County Government Center. Asked then if he would run, McAuliffe trained the spotlight on his work for Biden.

“I’ve known Joe for 40 years, we’ve been friends for a long time, I’m doing eight, 10 Zooms for him a day,” he said. “I want everybody, everybody focused on Nov. 3,” he said.

In a statement Tuesday, Carroll Foy dismissed McAuliffe as the status quo at a time when Virginians want change.

“They want someone who understands their problems as I do because I’ve lived them. While I respect Terry McAuliffe’s service, he doesn’t understand the problems Virginians face. A former political party boss and multi-millionaire, Terry McAuliffe is simply out of touch with everyday Virginians,” she wrote.

In her own statement, McClellan sounded a similar note.

“Today’s challenges require a new approach and a fresh vision to rebuild an economy that benefits all Virginians while addressing healthcare, education, climate and inequity crises,” she said in a statement.

Carter said he thought McAuliffe’s plans didn’t go far enough and was “out of line” with his prior record. Cox also joined the fray, who called McAuliffe a “self-motivated political retread.”

But McAuliffe seems to have predicted that he would be painted as an establishment figure happy to settle for incremental change, and has tacked in the opposite direction. As part of his campaign announcement, he unveiled a plan to spend $2 billion more a year on education to increase teacher pay, expand preschool for at-risk children and put all students across the commonwealth online.

“The one thing we cannot afford to do is to keep Black and brown and rural children from being able to access what they need to get a quality education,” he said.

Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett said McAuliffe’s renown is his best asset ahead of June primaries.

“He’s going to be the overwhelming favorite,” Tribbett said. “He has universal name identification and nobody knows who these other people are. They’re state legislators who represent tiny fractions of the state. They’ve got a lot of work to do to get known.”

This story was updated to include quotes from McAuliffe’s campaign announcement, and also with new comments from Foy, McClellan and Cox.