ST. PAUL — In the kickoff to a second campaign for Minnesota governor, Republican Marty Seifert presented himself Thursday as a candidate who is detached from government yet knows his way around it.

That inside-outside message was on display as Seifert declared his candidacy in a three-stop tour. It’s his effort to carve a path through a Republican field that has two defined camps: sitting lawmakers looking to move up and pure outsiders promising to inject a fresh voice and ideas.

“I have a mixture of public-sector and private-sector experience, not all one and not all the other,” Seifert said at a Capitol news conference. “I understand the budget, but more importantly I understand the budget of the average working-class Minnesotan.”

The former House minority leader has been out of elective office since falling short of his party’s nod for governor in 2010. He joins a handful of GOP candidates vying to take on Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton next year. Republicans will meet at their state convention in May to consider endorsing a candidate.

But an August primary challenge is almost certain. Seifert didn’t commit to ending his campaign if someone else is endorsed.

After spending 14 years in the state House, Seifert transitioned to real estate and hospital work back home in Marshall. Now 41, he said he’s matured politically since the last campaign and noted he’s aged in other ways, too, like his almost fully receded hairline.