Close advisers to Patrick launched a new political action committee in August, the Reason to Believe PAC, aimed at “promoting Governor Patrick’s positive vision for Democrats to rally around in 2018.”

Patrick, who was encouraged by members of Obama’s inner circle to run in 2020, met with the former president earlier this year as part of Obama’s string of meetings with prospective candidates.

Patrick‘s supporters saw him as having the right resume to challenge Donald Trump — someone outside the fray of Washington politics, with a background in business but also as a seasoned prosecutor, a mix of experiences that could blunt some Republican attacks. His relentlessly upbeat style and lofty rhetoric could serve as an antidote to some of the bitter divisions of the Trump era, they said.