Royce West on Monday launched his campaign for Senate, joining a crowded field of Democrats looking to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

West, who has served in the Texas Senate since 1993, was boosted by hundreds of supporters at a Communications Workers of America union hall in Dallas, including U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, former U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk and former Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith.

"It's going to be a long road," he said, nodding to a primary fight and potential general election.

"I'm battle tested," he said. "You've seen me in battle, and I'm ready today to announce my candidacy for the United States Senate."

West called for a "New Texas of America" that "incorporated the values of the past," while acknowledging the need for change.

He said of his style: "I will be a LBJ-type senator who sits down and gets the job done."

Tough Democratic primary ahead

West's entry into the Senate race fuels a fierce fight for the Democratic Party nomination, with the winner to face a bruising battle against a well-funded Cornyn.

The Dallas Democrat told supporters his campaign would be hard but said he had the support and the record to prevail.

State Sen. Royce West (from left), D-Dallas, is joining U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston, Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and former Army helicopter pilot MJ Hegar of Round Rock in the field of those trying to unseat the longtime incumbent. (File/wires / File/wires)

"The only thing I can do is be who I have been over the years. I've got to be me," West told The Dallas Morning News. "I've got to make certain that the people in the Democratic primary that don't know Royce West will know that I represent the things they want a leader to fight for in Washington."

West joins a Democratic primary field that includes former Army helicopter pilot MJ Hegar of Round Rock, who in 2018 lost a close congressional race to Republican John Carter. Also running for the Senate seat held by Cornyn is former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell of Houston and Houston council member Amanda Edwards.

At this point, no candidate in the Democratic primary has a lock on Texas, a large state ripe with diverse coalitions and expensive media markets.

Two of the candidates are from Houston, where West hopes to lure black, Hispanic and progressive voters to his side.

On Monday West said he had endorsements from 10 Texas senators, including Houston's Borris Miles, and nearly 50 state House members.

Kirk, who ran against Cornyn in 2002, said West was off to a good start.

"The first thing he has to do is get through this primary -- and he's been smart by demonstrating support from around the state with his colleagues from the Senate -- but he's got to run hard," Kirk said. "He can't take this Democratic primary for granted. Texas is a big state, and it will be a hard race."

Kirk said Democrats would not have an easy time beating Cornyn, his former rival, but that victory was possible.

"Sen. Cornyn is going to be massively financed because Republicans don't want Texas to turn blue," Kirk said. "We can counter that by engaging young people, ordinary folks and all these people who have been marginalized by Donald Trump."

Cornyn attacks early

West is already on Cornyn's radar.

The Republican incumbent wasted no time in blasting his would-be opponent, sending out a fundraising email within minutes of the announcement. He hit West over his "extreme liberal views" on abortion and gun rights. His campaign dropped a video casting West as too liberal for Texas."

West shrugged off the attack.

"They know my reputation," he said. "I've worked with lawmakers across the aisle."

West mentioned Cornyn once in his speech, criticizing him for not fighting to preserve critical elements of the Voting Rights Act, including measures that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional. Congress has been tasked with updated the law, but the Republican-controlled Senate has not moved on the issue.

"Sen. Cornyn believes that nothing else needs to be done with this," West said, adding that Cornyn did nothing when former Texas Secretary of State David Whitley flagged voters for citizenship checks.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee also wasted no time in attacking West -- and the rest of the Democratic field.

"Royce West is nothing more than another liberal blindly following the Democratic Party's agenda," committee spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez said. "Grab your popcorn and get ready to watch the 'primary rumble' that will leave these Texas Democrats broke and unelectable."

Confronting Trump

West began his remarks blasting President Donald Trump for the nation's divide and racial tension.

"It's more divided today than I've ever seen," he said. "The tone starts at the top."

Throughout his speech West criticized Trump for "weaponizing race" and "stoking the seeds of divisiveness along cultural and economic lines."

"It will be ideal if race didn't matter in our country anymore, but it does," West said, describing the needs for better education and health care as well as criminal justice reform.

State Sen. Royce West, (D-Dallas), laughs after making a joke during his campaign launch for U.S. Senate at the CWA Local 6215 Union Hall in Dallas on Monday, July 22, 2019. (Shaban Athuman/Staff Photographer) (Shaban Athuman / Staff Photographer)

"When we begin to look at our country, and the demographic changes, we've got to make certain that those persons that are now growing up ... get the education that they deserve."

The next LBJ?

The rally was filled with prominent Texas Democrats, and in contrast to Cornyn, they compared West to the late former president and Senate legend Lyndon Baines Johnson. Supporters said West, like the so-called master of the Senate, was tall with a booming voice and put Texans first.

Kirk, the former Dallas mayor, said that Texas needed a senator with courage to make Texans the central priority. He praised West's work in the Texas Senate on higher education, including leading the effort to land a University of North Texas campus in southern Dallas.

"We don't have the type of leadership in Washington that appreciates the needs, the interests, and the desires of the people of Texas more than they fear the verbal sewage that comes out of the president's tweets every night," Kirk said. "If you're like me and think it's time that we had a leader that puts your interest ahead of those that come out of the White House, then maybe it's time to go West."

Johnson, the congresswoman who West replaced in the Texas Senate, said West has been a great public servant.

"We need someone who will never forget that it's really the working people that keep this state moving," she said. "We need a change agent who will bring about justice and fairness."

Johnson said: "I've seen this boy grow up. I think he's ready."

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, makes comments as she introduces State Senator Royce West at a rally where West announced his bid to run for the US Senate in Dallas, Monday, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) (Tony Gutierrez / AP)

Among other things, West said as senator he would work toward immigration reform, curbing gun violence, reversing the harmful effects of climate change, promoting fair elections and continuing criminal justice reform.

He also said it was important to send a representative to the Senate who could work across party lines. He used the Texas Legislature's work to pass a school finance bill as an example of the bipartisanship needed in Washington.

"We did this together," he said. "It wasn't just Republicans. It was Republicans and Democrats working together."

Correction, 1:15 p.m. July 24: A earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Amanda Edwards is a former Houston City Council member. She is a current city council member.