ATLANTA (AP) The Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of the Atlanta church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, challenging recently appointed Republican Kelly Loeffler.

With his well-known pulpit at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Warnock immediately brings some Democratic star power to the race the kind that seemed to evaporate after former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams declined to enter it last year.

Warnock announced his run in campaign website video that begins in the subsidized Savannah housing project where he lived as a child.

Struggling families across Georgia have it tougher than I did back then, Warnock said, promising to help such families by raising issues such as health care and worker pay.

Ive always thought that my impact doesnt stop at the church door; thats actually where it starts, he said. I love this country. I believe that what makes America so great, is that weve always had a path to make it greater.