Olivia Chow will officially launch her campaign to be Toronto's next mayor at 11 a.m. ET in St. James Town, the Toronto neighbourhood where she grew up.

Chow resigned her seat in Parliament as NDP MP for Trinity-Spadina on Wednesday following confirmation Tuesday she would enter the mayoral race. Her campaign video was released Thursday morning and can be seen here. 

Coun. Mike Layton and Sarah Layton, the children of her late husband, NDP Leader Jack Layton, are expected to be in attendance along with Sarah Layton's children.

Chow had previously said she was "seriously considering" a run for mayor but was waiting to make a decision. She is considered one of the frontrunners vying for what is now Rob Ford's seat in a candidate pool already filling up.

Other candidates include Ford, one-time provincial Progressive Conservative leader and failed mayoral candidate John Tory, city councillor Karen Stintz and former councillor David Soknacki.

Since Wednesday, her competition has already welcomed, debated and criticized. 

Ford said Wednesday that her entrance into the race was the "best news he heard all day" and that "she makes David Miller look like a conservative." 

Chow's late husband, former NDP Leader Jack Layton was elected to Toronto city council in 1982 and had a failed mayoral bid in 1991. 

She and her parents immigrated from Hong Kong when Chow was 12.