First-term Democratic state Rep. Jay Hughes on Thursday announced he is running for lieutenant governor, tearing up several times in a speech recounting lessons and work ethic he learned growing up poor and vowing to run a "people-powered, grassroots campaign about inclusion, not exclusion."

Hughes, 54, an Army veteran, attorney and developer from Oxford, vowed to focus on public education, infrastructure, health and mental health care, and making government more accessible to common folk. A former Republican earlier in life, Hughes described himself as "purple, not blue or red," and vowed to eschew party politics.

Hughes said he would fund his priorities by "cutting out what I call crony contracts and waste" in state government. He said he would also postpone large GOP-led tax cuts being phased in over the next few years.

"And I absolutely support a lottery to help fund education and returning money to local governments for roads and bridges," Hughes said.

Hughes is the first to declare a candidacy for lieutenant governor and the second to announce for any statewide election in 2019. Rep. Mark Baker, R-Brandon, this week declared a run for attorney general.

Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is term limited from another run and expected to run for governor. Many politicos expect Republican Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to run for lieutenant governor, and Democratic Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley is considered a possible candidate for secretary of state if Hosemann does.

Hughes, elected to the Legislature in 2015, made a splash in his first term as a vocal critic of the GOP leadership's policies and politics. He's also a consummate user of digital and social media, his legislative recaps and broadsides known for the tag line, "It all starts with education."

Hughes' run for lieutenant governor has been a little-kept secret, and he already has a campaign apparatus in place. His well-attended announcement at the Marriott of Jackson was festooned with professional campaign banners and graphics with the theme "Imagine a Better Mississippi." Similar events are planned for North Mississippi and the Coast.

Now a wealthy attorney and businessman, Hughes is expected to be able to "self-fund" his campaign as much as needed. But Hughes, son of a truck-driving mother and oil-field worker father, said he hasn't forgotten his hard-scrabble path to success.

"Every single day, I remember where I came from, the journey and how humbled I am to be where I am today," Hughes said, choking back tears several times in his speech. "I was born to a poor, hardworking family, which had no one who had ever graduated from college. Money was always tight. We literally counted pennies, drank powdered milk and weren't able to do even the most basic things because we simply lived pay check to pay check."

Hughes said his path to business success included stints as a paper boy, mall janitor, oilfield truck driver, store clerk and bag boy, oyster shucker, waiter, soldier, mental health and addiction intern, attorney and city alderman.

Hughes also said he learned valuable lessons from his grandparents, whom the family called "Moose and Poose." Moose, he said, taught him perhaps his most valuable lesson, which Hughes vowed to bring to the lieutenant governor's office if elected.

"Work hard, and do right," Hughes said.