State Sen. Daniel A. Wolf, who represents the Cape and Islands on Beacon Hill, announced his candidacy for governor this week.

“With your encouragement and support, with an entrepreneurial spirit and love for our great commonwealth, I’m excited to announce my candidacy to be your next governor,” Mr. Wolf, a Democrat, said in a video posted Wednesday on You Tube and his campaign website.

Mr. Wolf, the founder of Cape Air, focused on the economy in the video, noting that when he started Cape Air in 1989, the airline had one route and Mr. Wolf was the only pilot. Today, Cape Air employs more than 1,000 people he said, and flies to more than 35 cities.

Mr. Wolf said he wants to focus on building the economy from the middle out and not the top down, and his vision for the future includes economic and social justice, affordable health care for all, reversing the growing economic disparity, and excellent public education.

He said he also wants to tackle climate change, promote clean energy, and “for once and for all [end] the false division between a healthy environment and a healthy economy.”

Mr. Wolf, who lives in Harwich, was elected to the state senate in 2010, and was re-elected without a contest in 2012. He enters a crowded field of candidates vying to succeed Gov. Deval Patrick, whose term is up in 2014. Declared candidates include Dr. Donald Berwick, a seasonal Vineyard resident and the former temporary administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.