State Sen. Jeff Jackson, D-Mecklenburg, announced his run Tuesday for North Carolina's 2022 U.S. Senate race, becoming the second Democrat in the race.

Former state Sen. Erica Smith, who also ran last year for Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis' seat but lost in the Democratic primary, also is seeking the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

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Jackson's video announcement, posted on Facebook, was family-forward, featuring his wife and three children after a 2020 Senate race that fell apart for Democrats when their nominee's extramarital affair became public knowledge.

That last election, Jackson and his wife Marisa agree as they sit with their sons on a couch, was miserable.

"You deserve better," Jackson says. "You should have higher expectations for this office than you currently do. We all should. We as a family want to campaign in a way that raises your expectations."

Jackson is an up-and-comer in the Democratic Party, and his announcement was expected for some time. He flirted with a 2020 U.S. Senate run but opted out. Democrats nominated former state Sen. Cal Cunningham instead, choosing him over Smith, who gave up her Senate seat in the northeast part of the state for the run.

A sexting scandal dominated the final months of that campaign, and Tillis won re-election.

Smith said in a statement Tuesday that Democrats can't go back to the same playbook and expect a different result. Like Cunningham, Jackson is white man from the Charlotte area, an attorney and a veteran. Smith is a black woman with an engineering background who represented a rural district in the statehouse.

"When we flip this Senate seat, it’ll be because we built a diverse working class coalition that stretches across the state," she said via text Tuesday. "I’ve represented rural North Carolina and as a legislator and I have proven record of standing up for working people of all colors, creeds and genders.”

The 2022 race will likely be a crowded one because Burr has said he won't seek re-election. On the Republican side, former Congressman Mark Walker, of Greensboro, has announced, but he probably won't be the only one.

Walker welcomed Jackson to the race with an emailed statement, referencing leaked comments Jackson made to a college class during the last campaign cycle. Jackson told the class he wanted to visit all 100 counties, but Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer would have had him in a windowless basement instead, raising money for negative ads.

"Congratulations to Jeff Jackson on deciding the 'windowless basement' Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wanted him in for 2020 is now appealing for 2022," Walker said in his statement. "While he is in the basement, I’ll be in the daylight, working hard to connect with the great people of our state."

But Jackson has re-upped his 100-county strategy for this race, and he pulls out a map of North Carolina in his announcement video. One of his sons races around the house, excitedly throwing clothes and stuffed animals into over-packed suitcases. Jackson promises to get on the road "just as soon as it's safe."

He also ticks off campaign priorities: The pandemic, unemployment, the opioid crisis, broadband expansion, racism and climate change.

Smith struggled to build a coalition last time out, but she told The News & Observer earlier this month that she plans to hire a more experienced staff and improve on fundraising this cycle. She also won't be tied to Raleigh like the last campaign, where tight numbers in the state Senate meant Smith couldn't miss many General Assembly days for fear of a close vote.

It's unclear who else will get into this race for the Democrats. Gov. Roy Cooper is the party's biggest name in North Carolina, but he'd have to give up the last two years of his second term as governor to join the U.S. Senate, and that would elevate Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to the governor's office.

Even so, Cooper has not ruled it out, at least publicly.

"Gov. Cooper was just sworn in less than three weeks ago and he is completely focused on his job as governor and fighting the pandemic and hasn't given any thought to other campaigns," Morgan Jackson, Cooper's political consultant, said in a text message Friday.