Shortly following the July 2016 upper house election, in which pro-constitutional amendment parties secured a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the Diet, Torigoe declared his candidacy for the Tokyo gubernatorial election with the support of the Democratic Party.
Tak lama setelah pemilihan dewan tinggi Juli 2016, dimana partai-partai amendemen pro-konstitusional memenangkan dua per tiga suara mayoritas di kedua dewan Parlemen, Torigoe mendeklarasikan bahwa ia akan maju pada pemilihan gubernur Tokyo dengan dukungan Partai Demokrat.