The Democratic gubernatorial candidate made a campaign stop Saturday afternoon at the Greene County Fair.

Deidre DeJear is running for governor and she talked about why she was at the fairgrounds in Jefferson during the Greene County Fair.

“If we are to serve people then we have to meet them where they are and hear their concerns, hear their challenges. One of the big questions I like to ask is, ‘Why do you live here? Why aren’t you anywhere else in the state? Why aren’t you anywhere else in the country? Why Greene County?’ And you can just hear people, the excitement and the sparkle in their eye when they can just talk about belonging and a community that they’re proud of, but they want to see improvements happen. This state is not too far gone, I want folks to know this. We can make some improvements, we just need will power from our leadership to make it happen and that’s what I intend to do.”

DeJear pointed out the main issues she wants to address if elected as governor.

“So the consistent under funding of our education system, we have to improve that. People are waiting six months to seek a mental health care appointment, we’ve got to improve that. We have less than 600 (mental health) beds in this state with a population of more than 3 million people. And then lastly, I want to increase our wages in this state. In our river towns, on the east and west coasts of Iowa, we’ve got too many Iowans that are living in Iowa but working on the other side of the river because there’s better access to higher paying jobs and training. I want them to feel comfortable so that they can live, work and play in their communities, no matter what county they live in throughout the state.”

DeJear is challenging Republican incumbent Kim Reynolds for governor in the November general election.