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Southern Arizona's state Senate races are focused on a central theme: economic growth.
Whether the candidates are discussing the border, education, taxes, poverty or immigration, they trace their logic to what will best suit the region's economy.
In Legislative District 11, which covers northern Pima County, Democratic candidate Jo Holt has said big businesses want to know about issues other than tax credits before locating in the state.
"What they want to know is about infrastructure, what they want to know is about workforce, what they want to know is why do we have such a poor reputation in this state for public education," she said.
Her opponent, Republican Steve Smith has said he sees economic development as the way to end the current reliance on welfare programs.
"I think the answer is provide them a job, provide them a career," said Smith, who is currently a state representative and was a member of the state Senate from 2011 to 2013. "People are not meant to stay on unemployment. People are not meant to stay on food stamps.”
In Arizona's Legislative District 2, which covers southern Pima County, Democratic incumbent Andrea Dalessandro has said cuts to higher education funding are detrimental.
"Pima Community College is getting the short end of the stick, and they have a wide variety of missions," she said. "Not only preparing people for four-year colleges, but vocational, and they are an economic driver.”
Her opponent, Republican Daniel Estrella, champions reduced regulations for businesses as a major need for the area.
"We need to go ahead and have people represent us in order to go forth and pass legislation that will be effective and be able to spur economic growth, remove regulations, and be able to allow us here in Arizona to prosper and flourish," he said.
In western Pima County's Legislative District 4, which includes most of the state's boundary with Mexico, border issues also boil down to economic development needs.
Democratic incumbent Lynne Pancrazi said she thinks the government's agricultural worker program, known as H-2A, is a barrier that makes hiring undocumented labor attractive to farmers.
"The federal government has got to get us some sort of way to get our labor back and forth across the border. The H-2A program is not working," she said.
Pancrazi's Republican challenger, Connie Uribe, said the state can save money by building a border wall and empowering local law enforcement agencies to enforce the law.
"We need to empower them while we are building a fence. It’s just that simple. Because it is costing us billions of dollars a year in this state," she said. "There is a legal way to enter this country. It’s that simple."
In central Tucson's Legislative District 10, where Democratic incumbent David Bradley said he is focused on Arizona's children, the debate still centers on economic issues.
Bradley said the state must properly fund schools, including money, about $317 million, the state owes them for inflation.
He said putting dollars in education is a way to improve business recruitment.
"There is no other way around it, there is no magic way to do this, so another focus of ours should be comprehensive tax reform," Bradley said.
His opponent, Mark Morrison, sees a handful of ways to improve education and economic development.
"I think if we can connect businesses to trade schools and community colleges, so they can say, ‘if you train to these standards, I will hire electricians or plumbers or whatever the skill is,'" he said.
The general election is Nov. 4.
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