John Deaton, a Republican and cryptocurrency attorney, officially launched his campaign against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren Tuesday, marking the first major challenger to the second-term Democrat this election cycle.

Deaton bills himself as a man who rose out of poverty after being raised by a single mother, served in the U.S. Marine Corps, and became a successful lawyer who later found an interest in crypto. A campaign website, X profile, and Facebook page advertised Deaton’s bid for Congress.

In a campaign announcement video, Deaton said he wants to “take on” drug and insurance companies for more accessible health care and “actually work to solve the migrant crisis,” an issue that has proved to be a winning topic for Massachusetts Republicans in the past year.

“Instead of just pointing the fingers at each other, actually work to solve the migrant crisis; fight inflation that’s crushing working families; work for better opportunities for children; take on Washington corruption and the division that’s killing this country. We need term limits for these career politicians who have simply forgotten who elected them,” he said.

Deaton is a retired Marine and lawyer for Deaton Law, his own firm that specializes in representing patients with Mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases. He also has a keen interest in cryptocurrency and runs a website on the topic.

He first made his bid against Warren clear last week when his advisor, former Charlie Baker aide Jim Conroy, said Deaton was “eyeing” a run and could seed his campaign with $500,000.

Deaton, who moved to Massachusetts in January from Rhode Island, has heavily criticized Warren in the past and did not hold back in the announcement video.

“Elizabeth Warren. Well, she promised to be a champion for those in need. Instead, she gives lectures and plays politics and gets nothing done for Massachusetts,” he said.

A spokesperson for Warren referred back to a statement from last week which said the senator “is taking nothing for granted” and “has a strong record of delivering for working families.”

Her team touted Tuesday more than $50 billion in federal dollars she has helped bring back to Massachusetts. She also had nearly $4 million in campaign cash, according to federal election records.

Warren has been one of the leading critics on cryptocurrency in Congress, and the industry could turn to Deaton as he mounts his run against her. He previously expressed “regret” on social media in October 2023 for not previously buying a house and running against Warren.

In another December 2023 post that highlighted Warren and cryptocurrency, Deaton floated a bid against Warren this year.

“Is there time for me to buy a home in Massachusetts, actually move there, and run for Senate against this government overreach hack in 2024?” he wrote.

Deaton may also have to contend with a 2017 arrest, which was eventually dropped pretrial and led him to sue the police who put him in handcuffs, their supervisors, and the department they worked at.

Conroy, Deaton’s advisor, previously said the candidate was “exonerated.”

“John will never apologize for standing up for women or anyone else,” Conroy said in a statement.

Deaton, who grew up in a northern suburb of Detroit, Michigan, said he was raised “in real poverty, in a dangerous, violent neighborhood.” He said he “got beat up.”

“But I fought back. I learned life’s lessons, and my motto became ‘no fear, and never give up,’” he said in the announcement video. “My mom, my hero, a single mom on welfare food stamps, who worked as many jobs as she could, just to put food on the table. Most the times, it was just beans and cornbread, but she did her best.”

He said he worked his way through Eastern Michigan University in 1989. He joined the Marine Corps while in law school and in 1994, was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Deaton graduated from the New England School of Law ini 1995.

Deaton said he has fought “addiction, cancer, and mountains of debt.”

“After law school, I got married, became the proud father of three amazing daughters and built the law practice. I fought for the little guy. I took on the green corporations and the heartless insurance companies. And I won. I took on the Washington insiders and I won,” he said in the video.