Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean stopped by The Leaf-Chronicle office on Monday and shared his thoughts on the future of our state and his vision for it.

Here is a portion of that interview.

L-C: What do you think are going to be the major topics or the major issue in the 2018 gubernatorial race?

Dean: Actually, I think it’s going to be the need for candidates, and I think the next governor, to talk about the issues that really matter to Tennesseans. I think the state wants a governor who’s going to be pragmatic, have common sense, someone who is going to try to accomplish things to move the state forward. Education, economic opportunity and health care, to me, seem to be the three big ones.

We’ve had two good governors in a row that have worked really hard on education, and Tennessee has made some progress, but it’s real important that we continue that progress, and that we continue to make education the top priority. To me, that involves being a state that produces a lot of college graduates. But at the same times, we need to be mindful that a lot of young people will not choose to go to college. And if they don’t, we want to make sure we have the vocational, technical apprenticeship-type programs that will help them get good careers and good jobs.

Economic opportunity: You can look around the state, and Montgomery County-Clarksville is a good example, some areas are really prosperous and unemployment has gone down substantially since the depths of the recession. But there are parts of the state where that type of growth, that creation of new jobs, the viability of communities has not really occurred in rural, small-town Tennessee. I think we have to really concentrate on trying to bring economic prosperity to all parts of the state, particularly those rural and small town areas that have not seen the influx of new jobs. It’s harder for young people to stay there. I think the small-town and rural parts of our state is so fundamental to the character as a state that we need to make sure we’re supportive.

Health care, if you ask me what people want to talk about -- I’ve been to 51 counties now -- health care is the number one thing people are worried about. There’s a lot of reasons for it. One would be the sense that it was a big mistake not to do the Medicaid expansion where the state essentially lost $3.5 billion dollars that could have been used to help people who are most in need, people who have preexisting conditions, young people changing jobs (and) people who are aging to have insurance. On top of that, you have this whole debate going on in Washington, D.C., and I guess we still don’t know how that ends. If there are big cuts to Medicaid or Medicare, that will be even more of an issue for the next governor to have to work to make sure Tennesseans are protected.

L-C: If you are elected governor and the legislature remains Republican, how can you work with them to get things done?

Dean: I was elected mayor twice in Nashville, running in non-partisan elections where you had to have support from Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and was able to do that. When you are mayor in that situation, you really try conduct yourself in a non-partisan way and work with everyone. Lamar Alexander, who I think everybody would agree was a very successful governor, was governor with a heavy Democratic majority too. So a two-party system is a good thing. And having balance in politics is a good thing, so I don’t see that as a problem.

L-C: As the former mayor of a major metropolitan city, what can you bring to the table for the state of Tennessee?

Dean: To me, success of being an executive in government is to have clear priorities, to know what you want to accomplish, and for me, that’s moving forward on education, it’s supporting our teachers because I think teacher pay needs to go up. I think its important that education remain a top priority because that will benefit us in every way possible. It helps our kids have great futures, it helps us have a great work force and it helps broaden our economy. And I think working on economic development, which is experience I’ve had on the local level but also on a pretty dynamic situation in Nashville is something I hope to be able to bring those experience to help people all over the state. Again, I’m anxious to help on the health care issue.

My sense of Tennessee is Tennessee has a wonderful future. I mean, if you look at the country as a whole, you look at where we are located, you look at how we are growing, you look at our reputation as a place to live and do business, the temperate climate. You look at all that together, I think our best days are still ahead of us. But I think the key is focusing on issues that really matter to voters and trying to make real advancements there so the state moves forward and all the citizens benefit.

Mark Hicks can be reached at 931-212-7626 or on Twitter: @markhicksleaf.