CLEVELAND, Ohio – U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan on Thursday officially added his name to the list of Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in 2020.

The Youngstown-area Democrat enters a crowded field with a significant name recognition deficit compared with the other high-profile candidates. Ryan announced he was running on his new campaign website just prior to an appearance on ABC’s “The View."

“A quiet revolution is happening in this country," Ryan said on his website. “One that is driven by compassion and the independent spirit our nation is known for. It’s time for us to invest in our values so we can focus on what really matters: healing and uniting our nation.”

Ryan, 45, becomes the 18th Democrat to have either entered the race or formed an exploratory committee. Over the past two years, Ryan has discussed bringing mindfulness into politics and wanting to court the “yoga vote” – practitioners of which are overwhelmingly women.

That was likely part of the reason he decided to appear on the women-centric daytime talk show just after announcing.

During his appearance on “The View,” Ryan said he would run on an economic message, including increasing the minimum wage and attracting new jobs to struggling areas like his home district.

Despite past conservative beliefs – for instance, Ryan was anti-abortion until 2015 – Ryan said he was not a conservative Democrat, but instead was a “progressive who knows how to talk to working class people and get elected in working class districts.”

“I think most progressives are going to see that as a candidate that can not only advance a progressive agenda, but win,” Ryan said. “I can win Western PA. I can win Ohio. I can win Michigan. I can win Wisconsin. And that means Donald Trump is going back to Mar-a-lago full time.”

Ryan was first elected to Congress in 2002, replacing his former boss, U.S. Rep. Jim Traficant, who was convicted on federal corruption charges. He’s consistently mused about the idea of running for higher office – Democrats wanted him to challenge Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in 2018 – but Thursday’s announcement marks the first time Ryan has followed through on that plan.

He gained national prominence after challenging then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for her position in 2017, sparking a kind of uprising from rank-and-file Democrats against the current speaker.

The crowded Democratic primary field can be viewed as both a positive and a negative for Ryan. With little name ID, national staff or fundraising support, the congressman faces an incredibly tough path to victory. No member of the U.S. House has leapt from that chamber to the presidency since 1880 with Republican James A. Garfield – a fellow Northeast Ohio native.

But a diluted pool of candidates also means if Ryan can build a significant enough following to take just a plurality in some of the early races, it could carry him into the larger primary contests. With U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio out of the race, Ryan could conceivably stake a claim as the labor union-backed Democrat – should former Vice President Joe Biden decline to run.

Ryan’s union credibility will likely be the focus. By default, he’s been the most vocal presidential candidate to discuss the General Motors decision to shutter several American plants, including the Lordstown Chevrolet Cruze factory in his district.

Dave Betras, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, said Ryan is a perfect candidate to serve as a foil for Trump. Betras said that if 77,000 people in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania had voted Democrat, Trump would have lost in 2016.

Ryan could woo those 77,000, he said.

“Bill Clinton was at 1 percent in the polls when he started,” Betras said. “All I know is Tim has the ‘it’ factor. He has natural political instincts. His natural abilities, you can’t teach these kind of things. It’s not scripted. I think people are looking for authenticity. They’re going to get that.”

Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Ahrens described Ryan as a nonfactor.

“Tim Ryan is a Congressional backbencher who has no chance of becoming president," Ahrens said. "You can just add him to the long list of liberal candidates demanding government-run health care, and it underscores how radical and out-of-touch this Democratic field truly is.”

Ryan does start at a significant disadvantage. During the 2018 midterm cycle, his congressional campaign raised just over $1.5 million and ended the campaign with only about $118,000 cash on hand. His PAC raised another $260,000.

That’s a far cry from the $18 million U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont or $12 million U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California just announced. Or the $9.4 million former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas raised in just 18 days. Or even the $7 million that fellow underdog Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, reported.

Ryan is likely banking on the virality of politics in the social media age. He’s had several floor speeches reach hundreds of thousands of people on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

The way the Democratic debates are structured, Ryan won’t be relegated to a sort of second-tier debate, as Republicans had in 2016. Instead, candidates who qualify will essentially pull straws for positions on back-to-back debate nights.

That means a higher likelihood of viewers and, if he can connect with just the right message, a chance to woo small-dollar donors. One viral moment could potentially turn into millions of dollars.

Qualifying for the debates, though, could prove difficult. New rules from the Democratic National Committee say a candidate either has to poll at 1 percent in three or more national or early-primary state polls or amass donations from 65,000. Of that 65,000, a candidate must have more than 200 donors in more than 20 states.

Even in his home state, Ryan’s support will be questionable. Democrats have frequently grumbled about Ryan’s unwillingness to challenge Republicans for higher office in Ohio. Republicans now control all the governor’s office and all of the other statewide executive seats.

Privately, Democrats in Ohio have said Ryan is likely angling for a bigger job in a new administration, possibly labor secretary or even vice president.