The same week early ballots began arriving in the mail, candidates in one of the nation's most competitive congressional races debated for the first time. Arizona Public Media hosted 2nd Congressional District candidates Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick and Republican Lea Marquez Peterson at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Afterward, voters who attended the event sat down with Christopher Conover to discuss what issues they see as most pressing in their district.
Participants included Debbie Hickman, chairwoman of the Cochise County Democrats; Republican Cami Quist, a small-business owner in Tucson; Democrat Gary Jones, a geophysicist born in Douglas and currently living in Pima County; and Republican Ed Biggers, who moved to Tucson in the early 1980s and climbed the ranks at Hughes Aircraft Company. All four attended the debate supporting their party's candidate, but found common ground by the end of the discussion. Issues they highlighted varied and included the burden of minimum wage hikes on small businesses, slow economic growth in Southern Arizona and immigration reform.
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