In this file photo from Nov. 1, 2014, Greg Orman talks to supporters during a senate campaign event in Topeka, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Topeka ? Independent candidate Greg Orman announced Wednesday that he is no longer exploring the 2018 race for governor in Kansas. He is in it, and he has released a digital ad on his Facebook page explaining why he thinks voters should support him.

Orman, 49, of Olathe, filed paperwork in early December to appoint a campaign treasurer and form an exploratory committee, which allowed him to start raising money for the campaign.

His campaign finance report, released in January, showed he raised nearly $453,000 in the last few weeks of 2017.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Orman said he is now “formally” in the race, although he has not yet submitted paperwork, including petition signatures, to get on the Nov. 6 general election ballot.

In 2014, Orman ran a competitive but unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Pat Roberts. That race, however, did not include a Democratic candidate, and Orman ended up losing the race, 53-43 percent.

That scenario won’t repeat itself in 2018, according to Democratic Party officials.

“Democrats in Kansas may have ‘stood down’ for him to run as an Independent for Senate in 2014, but we will not stand down in 2018,” Kansas Democratic Party executive director Ethan Corson said in an email. “We have a slate of excellent candidates ready to fight to make Kansas a better place to live. They are focused on investing in our shared priorities, like schools and jobs, not pushing a personal political agenda.”

Kansas political analysts who have studied voting patterns from that election have said that statewide the votes for Orman largely mirrored those cast for Democrat Paul Davis in that year’s gubernatorial race, meaning Orman drew largely from the same population of Democratic, independent and moderate Republican voters that Davis drew from.

Some observers have suggested that if Orman continues to draw from that same bloc of voters in 2018, he could end up being a spoiler in the race who could guarantee a Republican victory.

“I actually sort of reject that notion out of hand,” he said during the conference call. “I’m a little tired of the idea that only two parties are entitled to govern. Nowhere in the Kansas Constitution does it say that. Nowhere in the Constitution of the United States does it say that.

“What is clear to me is that voters want real alternatives,” Orman continued. “They want leaders who put their needs ahead of the needs of either major political party.”

Although he describes himself as a centrist who is willing to work with people of all political stripes, Orman has not yet articulated any specific state policy positions regarding things like school finance, Medicaid expansion, taxes or transportation issues.

“We are going to be rolling out a series of very detailed policy prescriptions for Kansas over the course of the coming weeks and months,” he said.