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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, the Democratic candidate for governor, was in Huntsville Tuesday.

He spoke at the Von Braun Center to the Rotary Club of Huntsville and said he likes his chances in next week’s election.

Maddox told the crowd if he’s elected, he'll expand Medicaid on the first day, work to end corruption in Montgomery and call a special session to pass an education lottery.

“In a perfect world, would you want to have the lottery as a funding source for scholarships, pre-K and wraparound services we need in our schools? No,” Maddox said. “But we don’t live in a perfect world, and we live in a state that right now is at or near the bottom in everything that matters.”

Gov. Ivey has raised lots of campaign cash and polls show she’s one of the most popular governors in the U.S., but Maddox isn’t backing down.

“Being a leader is not about being popular,” he said. “Being a leader is when a crisis comes in front of you that you deal with it. On April 27, 2011, when a tornado destroyed 12 and a half percent of our city, people didn’t look to me to be popular, they looked to me to solve the challenges that we faced."

The election is a week away, and Maddox said his campaign is feeling the momentum.

“You look at the crowds that have been amassing on the campaign trail the last few weeks, there is this feeling within our campaign that people are beginning to understand that this election has consequences,” he said. “This election … I think the opportunities have never been clearer for Alabama, and the differences clearer between the two candidates.