MADISON - Justin Strickland likes to greet people with an exuberant "howdy."

Yeah, he has Texas roots, so that makes sense. But it's more than that, so he hopes.

Strickland, a Chatham Borough councilman, on Sunday evening officially announced a run for Congress in CD-11, hoping to replace Mikie Sherrill. He is at least the fifth Democrat to do so.

In line with his folksy salutation, Strickland is framing his campaign as one that will be driven by the "grassroots," not political insiders.

"The machine is not here, I didn't invite the machine," he said, referring to the venue for his kickoff announcement, the Madison Community Arts Center.

Morris Democrats are still basking in the euphoria of last week's election, but it's still an exaggeration of sorts to label the county organization a "machine" - at least in the traditional political sense.

On the other hand, of the 75 or so people in the room, none appeared to be party regulars or activists. That was Strickland's point.

He spoke of growing up "poor" and eventually attending Texas A&M university.  He then joined the Army and earned a Bronze Star. Also, his literature says he worked on rebuilding war-torn economies, went to Afghanistan 16 times and earned the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Outstanding Achievement Award.

At his kickoff, Strickland talked about a public health insurance option, a $5,000 tuition cap for public colleges, a home loan program to increase affordability and a childcare coupon to help working parents.

Before he gets there, there is a primary.

Also in the race are John Bartlett, Jeff Grayzel, Brendan Gill and Tom Malinowski.

Gill, an Essex County commissioner, and former CD-7 Rep. Malinowski would appear to have the most support right off the bat.

Strickland is undaunted, saying he's got great name recognition among Democrats in Morris County, where he ran last year for county commissioner.

The district includes parts of Morris, Essex and Passaic.

Not only does he want grassroots support, Strickland said he will run a grassroots campaign. To that end, he introduced a volunteer staff.

He said he wants to go to Washington to fight for the people, not to join any elite clubs or to stay there for 20 years.

Commenting on the state of Congress in general, he said that more than half its members are millionaires.

"How do they really understand how it's like to live paycheck to paycheck?" he asked.