The primary election is today, and it will be up to voters to decide which candidates will appear on the November general-election ballot.
Eight candidates are running for two seats in the Arizona House of Representatives in District 17. The primary election will cut the number of candidates in half, leaving two Democrats and two Republicans to appear on the general-election ballot.
District 17 covers parts of Tempe and south Scottsdale, including ASU's Tempe campus.
Democrats and Republicans consider different issues the most important to Arizona, but immigration and education have dominated both parties' campaigns.
Rhett Wilson, a Democrat running for the District 17 seat, said education spending and health care are among his top priorities.
"Health care premiums for insurance are going up, and many people cannot afford them," Wilson said.
Wilson cited the state's education problem as being related to funding issues.
"We need to increase funding in a strategic way," Wilson said. "It's going to take real communication to solve the education issue."
Dale Despain, a Republican candidate for District 17, agreed education issues need to be addressed.
Despain said he thinks higher education should be affordable for everyone.
"Higher education is directly related to open employment opportunities," Despain said.
Immigration policy and tax cuts are other top priorities for some Republican candidates.
Despain said illegal immigration presents problems related to drug trafficking and health care in the U.S.
"[Illegal immigrants] are bringing drugs across the borders and putting pressure on health care," he said.
Despain, a longtime principal and teacher in Tempe, is teaming with fellow candidate Rep. Laura Knaperek, R-Tempe. They are the leading candidates for the District 17 Republican primary.
Their contenders are Republicans Chris DeRose, a young commercial real estate business owner, and Dan Gransinger, a pharmacist who lives in south Scottsdale.
Leading candidates for the Democrats are Sen. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, and David Schapira, an Arizona native and former high school teacher. Ableser is a graduate student at ASU and Schapira is a former ASU student.
The remaining Democrats running for the House are Wilson, a coordinator for the W.P. Carey School of Business, and Angie Crouse, a political researcher and former ASU student.
There is no Democratic primary for governor because Janet Napolitano is running unchallenged. But one Republican and one Libertarian candidate will be chosen to run against Napolitano in the November general election.
Len Munsil and Don Goldwater are the top candidates for the Republicans but have different views on which issues take top priority.
Both Republican gubernatorial candidates support voucher programs to fund education, and both are advocates of sending National Guard troops to the border, but Goldwater's illegal-immigration plan includes stricter measures than Munsil's.
Goldwater is supported by the Minutemen, the U.S.-Mexico border patrol group.
As the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater and a relative of Morris Goldwater, an author of the Arizona Constitution, the candidate's name holds a certain clout in Arizona.
Like Goldwater, Munsil has cited illegal immigration as one of the most important issues to be addressed.
But as the biggest supporter of the same-sex marriage amendment, Munsil differentiates himself from Goldwater by keeping his main focus on social issues and family values.
Though Goldwater said he supports the same-sex union ban, he has sometimes been referred to as a single-issue candidate because of immigration.
If he wins today's primary, the issue could become the central issue of the gubernatorial race.
Some of Goldwater's plans include building a 700-mile long wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and forcing illegal immigrants - who would be held in a tent city along the border - to help build the wall.
Other than Munsil and Goldwater, the remaining Republican candidates for the primary are Mike Harris, president of a technical sales company, Gary Tupper, a financial planner and contractor, and write-in Steve Moore. The single Libertarian candidate is Barry Hess.
Reach the reporter at: natalie.i.hayes@asu.edu.
