Gubernatorial candidates campaign in full force with five days until general election

By: Lauren Fabrizi
lfabrizi@klkntv.com

It’s the final countdown to Election Day, which means both gubernatorial candidates are busy campaigning.

Democrat Chuck Hassebrook was in south Lincoln Thursday.

Before heading to Norfolk, Hassebrook stopped by Sprouts Preschool to read to a group of children. He said if elected, early childhood education would be a big part of his focus as governor.

“We have too many children in the state who aren’t getting what they need at home,” Hassebrook said. “And so, finding a way to enable those children to gain the things they need for early years so that they can go on to succeed in life is critical to all of us.”

Republican candidate Pete Ricketts also had a busy day. He held town hall meetings in David City, Wahoo and Nebraska City. 

Channel 8 Eyewitness News spoke with him on the phone about his thoughts on early childhood education.

“If they don’t learn to read, they can’t learn to read later on,” Ricketts said. “So those are the sorts of things we really need to focus on to figure out how we can do a better job of making sure we deliver those results. Again, if we can get that child to learn how to read, that’s going to make a big difference for their education going forward.”

Both Ricketts and Hassebrook are going into Tuesday with a positive attitude. Hassebrook added he thinks this is the closest governor’s race Nebraska has seen.

They’ll be making appearances across the state throughout the weekend into Monday.