"Education, land use water and jobs are my top priorities," said Menger.

"My bottom line is that government should not be growing right now we have seen nothing but government growth at the state level," said Wright.

Republican candidate Jared Wright and Libertarian Tim Menger are facing off in the battle for district 54.

One of the issues both candidates have a strong opinion on... is amendment 64 to regulate marijuana like alcohol.

Menger says, "with amendment 64 I'm totally for it, not only because it's crime itself to put someone in prison for smoking a leaf, if you read the amendment fully, it gives 40 million dollars a year to the educational school building fund, also it allows in roads and opening up the ability to use industrial hemp, industrial hemp is not a drug"

"Having worked as a police officer i saw the harm that marijuana did in our local high school and I think legalizing it is going to send the wrong message to our kids, even if it's not legal for our kids to use, we saw so many problems in high school with illegal alcohol use, so we're going to see the same with marijuana use," said Wright.

However neither candidate sees marijuana legislation as a top priority.

Menger says he's formulated what he calls a frozen budget amendment which would take a closer look at job positions.

"What I want to do is look at those manifests, lay off those people who aren't really doing anything for that division or department, take that money instantly and circle it back to the bottom to hire those people who've been laid off"

Wright on the other hand says the first step is relieving burdens for small businesses,” said Menger.  

Wright said, "When they have to pay business personal property tax the moment they set up shop in the state of Colorado, before they have their first customer walk in the door, that's not encouraging for business growth, so one of my first goals in the state house is to eliminate that business personal property tax."

as for district 55, the candidates are democrat Dan Robinson and republican representative Ray Scott.

Representative Scott owns and operates Coolwater homes and won the election to the Colorado legislature in 2010.

His opponent Robinson serves as executive director for mesa county partners and provides services aimed at improving outcomes for at-risk youth.