About a dozen black female small-business owners were gathered in a South Carolina shared workspace on Tuesday night for a networking event when they were told the newest 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, Deval Patrick, would be stopping by to introduce himself.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s late entry into the presidential race offers Democrats a fresh — and perhaps last — chance to reassess who they think is the strongest candidate to take on President Donald Trump.

Deval Patrick was in need of a pep talk.

Deval Patrick launched what he acknowledged to be a “Hail Mary” bid on Thursday for the Democratic presidential nomination, testing whether voters sifting through an already crowded field are open to hearing from new candidates less than three months before the primary voting officially begins.

The Latest on former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s 2020 presidential bid (all times local):