Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, a Republican who broke with President Donald Trump before campaigning extensively for former Vice President Kamala Harris last year, announced on Tuesday he is running for the state’s governorship as a Democrat.

Duncan, who will have to compete in an increasingly crowded Democratic primary, is pitching himself as an eminently electable candidate with experience battling Trump. But he’s almost certain to come under fire for the conservative views he held during a decade as a GOP officeholder.

Democrats have not won the Georgia governorship this century, but are hopeful about their chances in a favorable midterm political environment in a swing state Trump won by a little more than two percentage points in 2024. A victory would be a breakthrough for the party in a state where they have made major gains, including electing Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, but have been locked out of power on the state level.

“I’ve never wavered in taking on Trump,” Duncan says in his launch video. “So Georgia Republicans threw me out of their party. I was leaving anyway. Now I’m running for governor as a proud Democrat to focus on what matters most to Georgians.”

While Duncan’s electoral history and willingness to battle Trump over the 2020 election results are likely to endear him to primary voters, many positions he held as state legislator and lieutenant governor could be challenging to explain. He described himself as “100% pro-life” in 2018, originally ran for lieutenant governor as a Trump supporter and voted to block Medicaid expansion in 2014.

Duncan is now running as a supporter of expanding Medicaid in the state. He’s said becoming a Democrat has made it easier to “love my neighbor” in an op-ed where he also endorsed “meaningful gun legislation” and suggested using the state’s rainy day fund to reduce child hunger.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, former DeKalb County CEO Mike Thurmond and former state Sen. Jason Esteves are also running in the Democratic primary, and progressive state Rep. Ruwa Romman has said she is considering a bid.

In a statement, Bottoms attacked Duncan for being new to many of the causes Democrats champion.

“I am reminded of the poetic words, ‘I’m not new to this, I’m true to this.’ Georgians want a Governor who has fought to expand Medicaid instead of eliminate it, who protects reproductive rights rather than stands ‘100 percent’ against them and who puts Georgia, not political ambition, first,” she said. “I look forward to proudly continuing the longstanding fight for these Democratic values on behalf of the people of Georgia, just as I have my entire adult life.”

On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones is running with Trump’s endorsement, making him a heavy favorite, though Attorney General Chris Carr is also in the race, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is considering a bid. Incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp is term-limited.