SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch has officially launched his bid for John Kerry's U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts.

Lynch kicked off his campaign Thursday at O'Brien's Corner restaurant in Springfield in western Massachusetts, a part of the state where few voters know much about him, and where the people are generally skeptical of Boston-based politicians. Fellow Democratic Congressman Edward Markey had previously announced a run for the seat.

Lynch, supported by some union members, acknowledged being the underdog, but says voters deserve a choice. He calls Markey a Washington insider and touts his own working class roots as a former iron worker.

Retiree Kathleen Murphy, a local Democratic activist, says she doesn't know much about Lynch or Markey, but wanted to hear about Lynch in "his own words."