DELANO — Tom Emmer, the Republican who narrowly lost the last governor’s race to Mark Dayton, kicked off his attempt at a political comeback Wednesday as he joined the 2014 race to succeed Michele Bachmann in Congress.

Emmer launched his campaign at a riverfront park in his hometown of Delano. He said in an interview beforehand that his close loss to Democrat Dayton in 2010 taught him to be a better candidate, and said he would seek to follow in Bachmann’s footsteps.

“This is a district full of people that want you to stand up for their values, against the ever-growing size of government and on the side of their personal rights and liberties,” Emmer said.

Emmer is an attorney, former three-term state representative and talk radio host. He said he’d soon step down from his daily gig on a Twin Cities conservative talk station.

Bachmann’s decision last week not to seek re-election set off a scramble among potential Republican opponents in the right-leaning 6th Congressional District. The 6th District includes St. Cloud and surrounding communities, and stretches southeast to northern Twin Cities suburbs.