BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Democrats at the local and national levels have made unseating Republican Congressman Chris Collins a priority in 2018. More than a year out, candidates are already beginning to emerge in NY-27.

"We need a representative that cares and is willing to learn. I will be that representative," candidate Nick Stankevich said.

The entrepreneur from Monroe County announced his candidacy Monday, and accepted an endorsement from the president of the Batavia Board of Education. His platforms include making the region more friendly to small business owners, which he also spoke about during a community forum last week.

"We must take back our future," he said. "We know what to do. It's putting economic development with people first."

Stankevich is the second candidate to announce his campaign in less than a week. Erie County Assistant District Attorney Sean Bunny said he wants to focus on the health care debate and infrastructure.

"I believe in public service and that's what led me to join the Army and to be a prosecutor and I think Washington has been so mean-spirited lately, I want to go down there and change that," Bunny said.

He was technically the second candidate to enter the fray, but the first candidate, veteran Erin Cole, quickly ended her campaign citing fundraising frustration. Collins has a nearly $1.5 million war chest.

"I made it through Army Ranger school. I'm not afraid of all of Chris Collins’ money," Bunny said.

A third potential candidate, retired environmental engineer Tom Casey, has not formally announced his campaign yet, but spoke as if he'll run during last week's forum.

"I believe our debt is a much larger threat to our security than North Korea," Casey said. "Debt has destroyed most of the major empires if not all in the history of the world and overextension with wars."

Candidates will spend the coming weeks and months making their pitches to the eight different county committees within NY-27.

"We'll be focused on doing an official endorsement sometime early-2018. Right now our focus is on this year's election," Erie County Chairman Jeremy Zellner said.

Bunny said he doesn't know yet if there will be a primary next year or if candidates will fall in line behind whoever emerges as the front-runner.

"It's always good to get our ideas out there. I think that right now I'm concentrating more on Chris Collins," he said.

Last week, the congressman's campaign connected Bunny to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. It did not immediately return a request for comment on Stankevich's announcement Monday.