A Democratic candidate running for the 2020 junior U.S. Senate race in Iowa met with area residents in Panora Friday.

Kimberly Graham held a meet and greet with the public at Crafty’s Coffee in Guthrie County, which she mentioned was the 48th county she’s visited so far since announcing her campaign this past summer. Graham shares her background and the motivation for running in her first public office race, “For 20 years I’ve been an attorney for abused or neglected kids and for parents here in the Iowa courts. So for 20 years it’s been quite literally my job to stand up and fight for vulnerable people. So in my career I’ve watched the results of our failure to really invest in our people in a big way. We’ve invested a whole lot in the very wealthy and that’s worked out great for them, they’re doing better than ever before in the history of this country, and the rest of us are not.”

Graham listened and spoke with attendees about their issues and concerns, most of which dealt with healthcare and limited access to rural hospitals. Graham says she plans on visiting all 99 counties three times each before the end of the Senate race. She is running against three other candidates for the Democratic nomination to oppose Senator Joni Ernst.