Updated Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 8:25 a.m.

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray ended months of speculation after he announced his reelection bid Monday, shaking up a field of at least 10 candidates in the Democratic primary race.

Gray, an alumnus, filled out paperwork at the D.C. Board of Elections office Monday afternoon, shortly after launching a bare-bones website and campaign Twitter account. Political analysts have said throughout the fall that Gray could have a clear shot to victory once he entered the race.

Mayor Vincent Gray says he's "ecstatic" to be seeking a second term. pic.twitter.com/Tq8AfxEwZk

— Ben Nuckols (@APBenNuckols) December 2, 2013

The race so far has mostly been on pause as Gray weighed whether to throw his hat into the ring. But Gray’s campaign manager, D.C. politics veteran Chuck Thies, said Gray’s experience put him far ahead of the other candidates.

“He is the most qualified and he has three years to point to that say, ‘Look, I can do it,'” Thies told The Hatchet on Monday. “If you look at what he did in the context of the job he was elected to do, he has done a pretty damn good job.”

So far, Gray’s campaign staff is small: “Literally, it’s Chuck and Vince,” Thies said. He added that he will spend the next month building a campaign team, days after launching a Twitter account and plain text website last weekend.

Thies also said more than 650 emails poured in Monday with offers to work on the campaign. He will first look for help collecting the 2,000 signatures Gray needed for Gray to appear on the April Democratic primary ballot.

Gray joins a field that includes Foggy Bottom Council member Jack Evans, Council members Muriel Bowser, Tommy Wells and Vincent Orange, former State Department official Reta Jo Lewis and Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal.

Gray hinted in October that his announcement would come within the following weeks. Analysts like Mark Plotkin, an alumnus who met Gray at GW in 1964, had said that the mayor put off an announcement because he remains ensnarled in a campaign scandal from his last election.

“I think he’s waiting till the last moment, and obviously if this investigation didn’t hang over him, he would definitely run,” Plotkin said in September.

Months into his first term, criminal allegations surfaced that the Gray campaign had paid a former mayoral candidate to attack incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty on the campaign trail.

Investigation into the allegations led to a much bigger discovery: a $650,000 shadow campaign helped get Gray elected. The fund, ran by local businessman Jeffrey Thompson, paid for umbrellas, t-shirts, and 10,000 yard signs, all designed to look like official campaign merchandise.

Five people have gone to court over the issue, including Gray’s closest advisers, but Gray has not been charged and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of the fund.

“I have said I’ve done nothing wrong from the very beginning. I’m not going to change that position. I see no reason to change that position,” Gray said in October.

Because of the busy holiday season, Thies added that the official campaign launch and most robust campaigning will happen after the new year.

“You could come out with the best campaign message tomorrow or over the next three weeks and [it will be] falling on deaf ears,” Thies said. “This is not the ideal time of year to be campaigning. People are focused obviously on the holidays, traditions, family, friends – everyone is wrapped up.”