After months of public hints that filled New Yorkers with dread, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is finally on the verge of making his 2020 bid official. A campaign spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the mayor will officially announce his presidential run Thursday morning, followed by four days of campaign stops in the key primary states of Iowa and South Carolina. In a not-promising start to de Blasio’s campaign, his announcement was publicly outed by high school journalist Gabe Fleischer, who tweeted a screenshot of a now-defunct Facebook event advertising an Iowa campaign event with “Bill di Blasio.”

The failed event page and high school scoop were two of several fumbles that de Blasio’s campaign has faced even before it has officially begun. Earlier reports this month that de Blasio would be entering the 2020 fray were followed up with the news that the mayor’s longtime press secretary and the top communications aide for his PAC had both departed their positions. On Monday, an attempt by de Blasio to take on President Donald Trump by holding a campaign rally-esque news conference on the city’s Green New Deal plan in Trump Tower was thwarted by loud protesters, who The New York Times reported drowned out de Blasio’s speech by blasting Tony Bennett music and chanting, “Our planet. Not your profit.”

As de Blasio enters the race, he isn’t doing so with the backing of his constituents, who would much prefer the mayor just stayed in N.Y.C. and fixed the subways instead. An April 3 Quinnipiac poll found that a whopping 76% of New Yorkers believed that he should not run for president, an opinion that the poll noted found support among every “listed party, gender, racial, borough, and age.” “Mayor Bill de Blasio’s flirtation with a 2020 White House bid is prompting a rare moment of unity among New Yorkers. Three-quarters of them say, ‘Mr. Mayor: Don’t do it,’” Mary Snow, polling analyst for the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a press release. Nationally, the mayor so far doesn’t seem to be faring much better, as early polls out of Iowa and New Hampshire already have de Blasio with a high unapproval rating before he’s even entered the race.

Still, the mayor seems to be hanging on to the hope that he can somehow best the 20-plus other candidates also vying for the Democratic nomination—a number of whom are already occupying de Blasio’s lane as a progressive white guy with executive experience—even if it seems right now that very few actually want him to. Per Gothamist, the mayor is reportedly planning to focus on his experience as a public executive and on his accomplishments in office, like pre-kindergarten, paid sick leave, healthcare coverage, and the city’s recent environmental legislation. “Because he has such a present press corps in a tabloid city, we’ve seen him up close and in an aggressive and unflattering light, but if you look at his actual record of achievement, it’s quite lengthy,” former de Blasio aide Rebecca Katz told NBC News. “Yes, there’s an argument to be made about whether he should be running for president or not, but he is certainly qualified.” In an interview with Gothamist, Hunter College professor and author of The Pragmatist: Bill de Blasio’s Quest to Save the Soul of New York Joseph Vitteriti noted that de Blasio is an underdog who has always “done the unexpected” and “managed to come out on top”—but warned that if his White House bid tanks, de Blasio’s mayoral legacy may come down with it. “The risk is that people think he’s kind of checked out and he’s focused on the next job rather than the current job,” Vitteritti said before de Blasio officially launched his bid. “That does not serve any mayor well.”

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