Democrat Katie McGinty has decided to throw her hat into the Pennsylvania Democratic primary and join the Senate race. The former chief of staff to Governor Tom Wolf is running against former Congressman and retired Navy admiral Joe Sestak. If she wins the nomination she will try to unseat Republican incumbent, Senator Pat Toomey.

McGinty’ served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection during Governer Ed Rendell’s administration, and she chaired the Council on Environmental Quality during the Clinton administration.

A daughter of a Philadelphia police officer and restaurant hostess she lives in Chester County with her husband and three daughters. One of her main platforms is reforms to help middle-class Pennsylvanians, saying that she will push for good schools, decent wages, and affordable health care.

“I am running for Senate to stand up for middle-class and hard-working families who deserve a shot at the American Dream,” she said in a video announcing her candidacy. She continued criticizing Toomey, saying that “Sen. Toomey has become part of that Washington mess that has left middle-class families out and behind.”

McGinty has been courted by national Democratic Party leaders, many of which were unhappy that Sestak is seeking a rematch with Toomey, to whom he narrowly lost in 2010. She has also been encouraged to run by Emily’s List, a Democratic group which backs pro-choice female candidates that has put Toomey “On Notice” for voting to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

Sestak responded to McGinty’s nomination by saying that he wants “to be held accountable to the people of Pennsylvania – not party insiders.” He went on to say, “When I’m Pennsylvania’s next senator, the “people can be sure that I will be their senator”

Toomey’s campaign focused on Sestak in their response to McGinty’s nomination, saying that “Pennsylvania Democrats are so dissatisfied with Congressman Joe Sestak’s candidacy that they are now placing their bets on someone who finished dead last a year ago”.

Referring to McGinty, A Toomey campaign spokesman Steve Kelly said, “We welcome her to the competition of ideas, and we’ll let the Democrats sort out who their candidate will be next April.”

You can view McGinty’s campaign video below.