About 20 people attended a meet and greet event with one of the Democratic candidates for Iowa Governor Sunday afternoon.

Current State Senator Nate Boulton was at the Jefferson Hy-Vee Market Grille. The 37-year-old spent the last 12 years as a worker’s right attorney and is in his first term as a state senator. He told Greene County attendees about his displeasure of the current administration and how Branstad and Reynolds promised they would create 200,000 new jobs this year and they haven’t raised the state’s minimum wage, which is less than five of the six neighboring states. He believes the 2018 election will be the “fight for the soul of Iowa” and wants to see the skilled workforce grow. He also wants to see economic growth with wind energy and make education better, particularly in early elementary classrooms.

“When we see class sizes increase and we see students not getting the one-on-one attention and skills development that they need, we have a harder problem retaining those students and we see drop out rates affected later on and we see skills development affected.”

Boulton answered questions about healthcare, generational shift in politics with him runnings for governor, the state working with smaller communities on infrastructure and allowing for more local control when it comes to deciding on Certified Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and changing the master matrix.

“We want to see some real ability for local officials to have a voice for their residents, for the people that voted for them. Because I think people elect those officials with the hope and understanding that they do have the power to have a voice that’s meaningful.”

Sunday’s trip to Greene County was stop number 94 of the 99 counties in the state that Boulton plans to visit before the end of the year.