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The summer monsoon season has produced its fair share of storms, creating a healthy helping of mud throughout the state.

Yet with less than a week before the statewide primary election, none of the four Democrats running for state representative in Legislative District 23 has had any mud slung at them.

That's just how it should be, Pinal County Democratic Party Chairman Joe Robison said.

"I've gone to about 12 different forums throughout the county, and I haven't seen any one Democrat take a swipe at the others," Robison said. "In talking with the candidates, they've said whoever wins the primary, the others are going to support them. They all seem to get along."

Incumbent Barbara McGuire is hoping to retain the House seat she won in 2006, while challengers Dorian Bond, Ernest Bustamante and Krista Pacion are each hoping to fill the seat left open by Pete Rios, who is stepping down after 24 years in the Legislature to run for Pinal County Board of Supervisors.

District 23 covers nearly all of Pinal County, with the exception of the SaddleBrooke area and parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area, and also includes portions of northeast Maricopa County.

The two Democrats who come out of Tuesday's primary will face Republican challengers John Fillmore and Frank Pratt in the Nov. 4 general election.

Of the challengers, Bustamante has the most political experience. The 52-year-old Mammoth resident, who works for Asarco, ran for the House in 2000, 2002 and 2004, winning a District 23 seat in 2002. He also spent a year on the Mammoth City Council.

Bustamante, like Kearny resident McGuire, comes from the more rural eastern part of the district, where rampant growth hasn't been as evident as in the northern and western parts of Pinal County.

Still, Bustamante said growth issues are what the district's voters — not just those in the heavily populated areas — are most concerned about.

"In growth, I think everyone has to deal with the same issues," Bustamante said. "Water, transportation issues, employment. They're all really related. I think people are most concerned with the job situation."

A lack of employment opportunities in Pinal County is one of the reasons why Bond, a 33-year-old political newcomer who is a private investigator, said he decided to run.

Bond, who said he spends about $20 a day on gas driving to and from Queen Creek into downtown Phoenix, believes offering tax breaks to companies would serve as an incentive for them to locate job centers in Pinal County's growing population areas. Without those closer-to-home jobs, Bond said, many people can no longer afford to live in the area.

"We need to bring some jobs" to Pinal County, said Bond, who said he has taken on the task of mowing the lawns of recently foreclosed homes on his street.

Pacion, a 1998 University of Arizona graduate who was raised in Casa Grande and lives there now, said the issues she campaigned on during her unsuccessful attempt at a District 23 House seat in 2006 are still relevant two years later.

"I grew up in poverty, and I wouldn't be where I am today without the public-school system and other programs that were available to my family," said Pacion, 32, who is a technical writer for Scottsdale-based online domain name registration site GoDaddy.com.

"I want to make sure that those same programs are available to others."

McGuire did not return calls made by the Star for this story.

An influx of registered Republicans into District 23 has trimmed the gap with Democrats to about 5,700 voters, potentially weakening the odds the seats will stay Democratic.