The Marion County Democrats help their annual soup luncheon this past weekend. Candidates running for local and state offices were in attendance.

Deidra DeJear who is running for Governor talked with KNIA/KRLS News about how to get Iowans health services that they need and when they need them.

“One, I want to increase of healthcare and that means getting more people in the field. That also means we have to talk to our higher education institutes to push students in those fields.”

 DeJear talks about her goal for mental health services.

“The end goal is to make sure that no one has to wait more than seven days to access mental health services.”

Education was a big topic discussed among the candidates. US Senate candidate Glen Hurst says what can be done in the Senate.

“At the Senate level, we often pass off education to the states that run each program. The reality is there is federal money for education and we have to be careful with how we use it. I never want to see us withhold money from schools that may not be performing according to the state’s designation. I believe we should incentivize schools to do better.”

Nine candidates in total spoke and took questions from the audience as they prepared for the November election.