T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Candidate for governor Fred Hubbell implores a group at the Marshall County Democratic Party headquarters to get out and vote for him and other Democrats ahead of or on Nov. 6.

Two state-level Democrats worked to inspire supporters Monday with about a week to go until the mid-term election Nov. 6.

Retired businessman and gubernatorial candidate Fred Hubbell spoke to a group at the Marshall County Democratic Party headquarters about why he thinks he should be the next governor of Iowa. He was joined by state House Minority Leader Rep. Mark Smith of Marshalltown, who is also up for election.

“We have a big choice,” Hubbell said. “We can either go with a third Branstad term with Gov. (Kim) Reynolds, just more of the same, or we can go for change.”

Hubbell touched on several key parts of his campaign platform Monday, including which services he wants to provide as governor and how those services can be paid for.

“We’re going to do that by making sure we stop wasteful corporate tax giveaways that aren’t creating value for our state,” he said.

Instead, he said he would see that money used to fund education and job training across the state. Hubbell said widespread job training is key to the state’s future.

“We need to keep all those young people here and if we have more job training with local public-private partnerships with the employers, community colleges and the high schools, we can have more training and we can get more kids into the jobs that we need,” he said.

Health care issues also came up at the campaign stop. Hubbell said he and running mate state Sen. Rita Hart would immediately reverse the privatization of Medicaid if they win next week.

He also said he would address accessibility to mental health and substance abuse services in the state and work to restore funding to Planned Parenthood.

During a meeting with local Medicaid providers in the Marshalltown area earlier Monday, Hubbell said he heard issues about the Medicaid companies not paying providers on time and the “bureaucracy” around the privatized Medicaid system.

Hubbell also struck an economic chord.

“We need to do something serious about incomes,” he said. “Too many people are working too many jobs, too many kids are going to school on free- and reduced-cost lunch, too many people are not able to make ends meet even though they’re working two, three, four jobs.”

He said he supports a $15 minimum wage and restoring collective bargaining rights that were changed significantly in 2017 by the Republican-led legislature.

Reynolds has criticized Hubbell for promising many services that cannot be paid for unless taxes are increased. Hubbell responded to that criticism by saying his goals “don’t take a lot of new tax dollars, they take new priorities.”

Both Hubbell and Smith implored the audience to not only get out and vote, but to encourage as many others as possible to do the same.

“Let’s all make a commitment today for all of us on election day to turn out ten more votes and we will win this state back,” Smith said. He is facing Republican challenger James Perez in this year’s election.

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Contact Adam Sodders at (641) 753-6611 or asodders@timesrepublican.com