Mike Huckabee announced Tuesday that he will join the race for the 2016 presidential election.

USA Today reports that this is Huckabee's second time to enter the big race. This time around he promises to take the nation "from home and higher ground."

At his formal announcement in Hope, Arkansas on Tuesday, Huckabee said, "I learned how to govern and learned how to lead." He was referring to his time as governor of Arkansas when he worked with Democrats.

The Republican opposes the idea of allowing citizenship for undocumented immigrants just like many of the other Republican presidential nominees.

Huckabee seems to focus more on economic growth for the United States, where he said that Congress should not change the national retirement system.

"Power and money and political influence have left a lot of Americans lagging behind,'' he said.

He also made comments about his thoughts against same-sex marriage and legal abortion.

"The Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being and they cannot overturn the laws of nature or of nature's God,'' he said.

Huckabee ran for president in 2008 and won eight states before losing the ticket to John McCain.

This time around, the former Southern Baptist pastor is up against more Republican nominees than he was in 2008, according to The New York Times.

"It is a completely different environment than 2008, with different issues and with different candidates," said Bob Vander Plaats, who was chairman of Huckabee's 2008 Iowa campaign.

Huckabee is appealing to social conservatives, which he has in the past. He is still among the top preference of Iowa Republicans based on recent polls, but Jeb Bush surpasses him overall.

Bush offers a more lenient look toward immigration reform, which might work in his favor if he makes it as the Republican presidential candidate.

Huckabee continues to appeal to evangelical voters making his next stops at Iowa and South Carolina.

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