As the race for the White House heats up, so do local primary races here in Tucson. In District 29, seven Democratic State House candidates are going head-to-head, trying to survive to the General Election.

It’s a diverse field of candidates for a diverse district, which reaches from downtown to the south side, covering neighborhoods around Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Rita Ranch.

Former Border Patrol Agent Ephraim Cruz is running for his first elected position. “I’m running to promote the three issues that we’ve come to find through canvassing that are affecting the voters the most, which are public education, health care and public transportation,” he says.

Daniel Patterson currently serves on the Tucson Planning Commission and the Pima County Board of Adjustment. “Our main issue in this election is the economy,” he says. “There’s far too many people suffering from inflation, prices going up, and wages going down.”

Tom Prezelski is running for his fourth and final term in the State House. He says, “There’s a lot of things we can do at the state level to help that, or hinder that, and I’ve been a strong advocate for local control and making sure in Tucson we have the tools to make this a better place.”

School teacher Eric Carbajal Bustamante is campaigning for better education. “That’s my main priority that I feel strongly about,” he says. “I feel we need to push, fight for education and working families.”

The two winners of the Primary will face Republicans Juan Ciscomani and Pat Kilburn in the General Election. Fox 11 News tried to reach all seven Democratic candidates running in the Primary, but Gil Guerra, Matt Heinz and Pat Puig were unavailable for comment.