Ending months of speculation, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty leapt into the 2018 governor’s race Thursday.

Pawlenty, a 57-year-old Republican who served from 2003 to 2011, made his announcement in a video and is expected to make a public appearance before the media Friday in Eagan.

In his announcement, Pawlenty characterizes Minnesota as a state that’s lost its way since he left office. He highlights his past experience leading the state as the best attribute to get Minnesota back on track and the main reason voters should give him another shot at governor.

The 2-minute, 14-second video details a list of problems Pawlenty wants to address. The growing costs of health care and college, a divisive political atmosphere, the opioid crisis and a promise to stop taxing Social Security benefits all made the final cut to kick off Pawlenty’s campaign.

“My top priority will be to put those in the middle – who are working hard and getting squeezed – first,” Pawlenty says from what could be a family room in Anytown, USA. “It’s a better way forward.”

The entrance of Pawlenty, who would likely be the longest-serving governor in state history if elected, will have a profound effect on the dynamics of the upcoming election season, which already promises to be high stakes and hard-fought.

A darling of many influential GOP donors, Pawlenty instantly brings well-funded name recognition to the Republican field currently headlined by Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stephens and former state GOP Chairman Keith Downey.

Johnson, considered by many to be the Republican front-runner before Pawlenty’s announcement, said the former governor is the last person the GOP should have at the top of the ticket in November.

“Working-class Minnesotans are sick and tired of politics-as-usual and being ignored by their elected leaders,” Johnson said in a statement. “Tim began this campaign by convening a private meeting of 100 of the wealthiest donors in Minnesota to solicit their approval and money; it’s not a promising sign he understands the Minnesota of today.”

Pawlenty’s entrance into the race may help narrow the field of candidates — it has already squelched the zeal of some who were sitting on the sidelines weighing their options. For example, last week House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, a target of gubernatorial speculation, said he didn’t foresee himself running for anything but re-election if Pawlenty entered the race.

RELATED: The big issues Pawlenty faced as governor — and how he handled them

PREZ, V-P CANDIDATE, LOBBYIST

Pawlenty’s most recent gig was essentially as a Washington, D.C., lobbyist for the financial industry — a job critics already have attacked him for. From 2012 until earlier this year, he served as president and CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable.

Tax records show Pawlenty earned $2.7 million in that role during the 2016 fiscal year.

Pawlenty had been U.S. Sen. John McCain’s Minnesota lead in McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and was widely seen as on the short list to be his vice presidential running mate — until McCain surprised many by picking Sarah Palin. Four years later, Pawlenty embarked on a short-lived presidential campaign, withdrawing to become national co-chair for Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

RECORD WILL BE SCRUTINIZED

For months, Democrats have prepared for Pawlenty to enter the race, and the talking points had been set well before Thursday’s news.

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Senate GOP plans vote on Trump’s court pick before election They’ll try to paint him as a personally ambitious and fiscally reckless politician who forsook his Minnesota roots to do the bidding of Wall Street. When it came to managing Minnesota’s finances, Democrats have accused Pawlenty of leaving the state in financial disarray.

When Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton took over in 2011, Minnesota projected a $6 billion budget deficit.

Ken Martin, chairman of the state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor party, has said he believes a Democrat can win if the race becomes a referendum on Pawlenty’s eight years compared to Dayton’s eight years. He characterized the Pawlenty era as a failure.

“As governor, he deprived thousands of Minnesotans of affordable health care. He jeopardized our children’s education. He devastated our budget and left roads and bridges across the state to crumble,” Martin said in a statement. “We need an honest leader who will fight to build a better Minnesota — not a Wall Street lobbyist who cares more about the wealthy than everyday families.”

RELATED: Who is running for Minnesota governor in 2018

WHICH PAWLENTY PERSONA?

Among the questions awaiting some political observers will be how Pawlenty will approach voters stylistically.

While Pawlenty’s fiscal and social credentials are known — he vetoed numerous Democratic spending plans and has always been anti-abortion — Pawlenty’s demeanor generally steered clear of the bombastic tone of President Donald Trump. Since Pawlenty left elected office, rancorous political rhetoric has ratcheted up a notch, if not several.

Pawlenty noted “toxic politics are dividing us,” in his announcement. But he didn’t shy away from the hot-button issue of immigration, saying it was a “no-brainer” to make sure people getting government benefits were here legally.

Such pronouncements are sure to grab the attention of the field of Democratic-Farmer-Labor candidates, which includes U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, state Rep. Erin Murphy and state Auditor Rebecca Otto.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

No one has ever been elected to a third four-year term as governor in Minnesota.

Minnesota has no limit on how many consecutive terms, or total years, one person can serve as governor. After a 1958 constitutional amendment lengthened the governor’s term to four years from two, a “tradition” of governors not serving more than two terms emerged.

Former Gov. Rudy Perpich has served the most — 10 years — in a tenure that began when he ascended to the post as lieutenant governor after Gov. Wendell Anderson was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate in 1976. Perpich lost to Gov. Al Quie in the 1978 election but then regained the governor’s seat in the 1982 election and was re-elected in 1986. Pawlenty would become the second person in the state’s history to serve discontinuously as governor, although others have tried.

BUSY ELECTION SEASON

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Washington County candidate forums to be televised In addition to the open governor’s seat — Dayton, a Democrat, isn’t seeking re-election — November ballots will feature races for both U.S. Senate seats, all eight U.S. House seats and every state House seat, as well as the statewide offices of attorney general, secretary of state and state auditor.

All those statewide seats are currently held by Democrats, but Republicans here and nationally see opportunities, especially for governor and the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Tina Smith, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created when former Sen. Al Franken resigned earlier this year.