It’s a rematch this year in Colorado’s swingiest house district, pitting two candidates who have each won the seat once and lost it once.

State Rep. Kit Roupe, the Republican, and former state Rep. Tony Exum, Sr., the Democrat, are facing off to represent House District 17, covering southeast Colorado Springs and a portion of unincorporated El Paso County, in a race that’s being run on the sidewalks over nuts-and-bolts issues.

In what has become a familiar pattern in the district over the last decade, Roupe ousted Exum in 2014, just as Exum unseated former GOP state Rep. Mark Barker in the election before that. The seat is known as a bellwether for the state and has switched between parties like clockwork since 2006, with Democrats winning in presidential years and Republicans prevailing in midterm elections.

If the pattern holds, Exum should be able to count on reclaiming the seat – turnout among Republicans and unaffiliated voters tends to be fairly steady, but Democrats vote in markedly lower numbers when there isn’t a presidential contest on the ballot – but neither candidate expects this year’s election to be typical, and both say they’re pounding the pavement to wrangle every vote.

“It’s essential to walk door-to-door and attend as many events as possible,” says Roupe, an Army veteran who has run a pet-sitting business since retiring as a land-use planner and Defense Department employee. “You have to stay in touch, listen to your constituents – but I haven’t just listened to them, I’ve acted on what’s necessary. You work for the people you represent, you’re not just a headpiece.”

“I am grateful for the opportunity to improve the quality of life of individuals who live in House District 17 and throughout the state,” says Exum, a retired battalion chief who worked for the Colorado Springs Fire Department for 35 years. “It was up to voters to give me the opportunity the first time. I’m going to do everything I can to persuade them, but it’s up to them to give me another opportunity, and I’ll appreciate another opportunity to serve. I’m going to work my tail off.”

Both candidates stress their records helping district residents with legislation addressing kitchen-table issues, including employment, job training and access to child care and health care.

Roupe points to bills she’s sponsored that have already led to construction in her district and jobs for the primarily blue-collar residents, including groundbreaking on a new data center and companies devoted to refurbishing aircraft.

“Because we did a little tweak here and there with some of these laws, we’re helping get their workforce and produce jobs for the district,” she says, adding that her work has also helped foster partnerships between community colleges and school districts to boost critical vocational training.

She says her many priorities for the next session include jobs, transportation, education, health care, child care and veterans’ issues.

Seniors and the district’s lower-income families, Roupe says, are “very concerned about Medicaid – they’ll get approved and then can’t find a doctor. The shortage of doctors is affecting our veterans’ community as well.” Toward that end, she points to a veterans’ legislative summit, involving local officials and members of the congressional delegation, to discuss everything from homelessness to mental health concerns and employment opportunities for veterans.

As for child care – what Roupe says is a crucial issue for her constituents – she calls herself “an instigator of great beginnings but not the one with the finished idea,” adding that she’s working to “put ideas out on the table” and get a conversation started. “How do we ensure quality care and, at the same time, affordability?” she asks, suggesting that there might be issues to resolve with licensing and inspections.

“If you don’t start having a conversation about what works and what doesn’t work,” Roupe says, district residents won’t find a solution.

Exum says that’s all well and good but maintains that he’s provided solutions to the problems Roupe says she’s working to tackle, including sponsoring legislation that provides child care tax credits for single parents, starting at $500 for one child and going up from there.

“That makes a difference,” he says, adding that he received a report recently from the Department of Revenue showing more than 30,000 people have participated in that tax credit to the tune of roughly $2 million. “It’s working people who are taking advantage of it,” he notes, including hundreds in his district.

Another success he points to is the “breakfast after the bell” bill, which has added thousands of youngsters to the morning nutrition program in schools, upping participation from 30 percent of those eligible to 90 percent. “When kids aren’t hungry, it enhances their learning, they’re paying attention – all those things have impact,” Exum says.

He also boasts about a pilot program to help needy and disabled Coloradans in certain counties apply for temporary aid while they’re awaiting approval of Supplemental Security Income, speeding the process from six months to around one month. “It’s had an impact helping people with a hand up – if they have a roof over their head and food in their stomach, then they can start dealing with other problems,” he says.

Both candidates support reclassifying the Hospital Provider Fee as an enterprise fund in the state budget, potentially freeing up some $600 million in state spending. This year, Roupe was one of just a handful of Republicans to back the change, which was blocked by GOP lawmakers, and she says she’d probably vote for it again. “To me, if you don’t pass it through like you should, it has a direct impact on the cost of health care,” she says. “On the flip side, I don’t like the funds being held hostage for transportation and education – I don’t think we should be held hostage, we need to be more clear on what our priorities are, as agonizing as that may be.”

Both candidates also won the endorsement of One Colorado, the state LGBTQ-advocacy organization. (Roupe and state Rep. Dan Thurlow of Grand Junction were the only Republicans to win the group’s backing, with perfect scores on the group’s legislative priorities, although a One Colorado spokesman noted that only four GOP legislative candidates filled out the group’s questionnaire.)

The district doesn’t have the fewest registered voters in the state – that would be Arapahoe County’s House District 42, which lags House District 17 by about 600 voters and is currently represented by state Rep. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat running for a state Senate seat – but it’s a close second.

Democrats account for 32 percent of the district’s active voters, Republicans have 26 percent, and unaffiliated voters make up a full 39 percent of the total, according to the most recent figures reported by the Colorado secretary of state’s office.

Once a reliably Republican seat, it has switched parties every election for the past decade. Republican state Rep. Mark Cloer handily defeated Democratic challenger Christine Varney in 2006. The next election, in 2008, Democrat Dennis Apuan beat Roupe, the GOP nominee, by 539 votes. In 2010, Republican Mark Barker unseated Apuan by 642 votes. Exum ousted Barker by about 3,500 votes in 2012 but lost the seat in 2014 to Roupe by just 289 votes.

It’s those pendulum swings that have both candidates concentrating on get-out-the-vote efforts as the election approaches.

“Keeping in mind voter exhaustion,” Roupe says with a smile, she’s running a relentlessly local race.

“I’m supporting (Republican presidential nominee Donald) Trump,” she says, “but I have my misgivings. They’re both difficult candidates, nobody’s happy with either of these choices. People need to realize this. It’s a hard election year. I don’t work for Trump, and I don’t work for my party.”

Roupe says she’s troubled by “some of the earlier rhetoric he had on immigration, as much as I understand fundamentally what he was trying to say, he didn’t deliver it well.” She adds, “I’m certainly not an amnesty person and think we need to do more than put ’em on a train and shovel them out. We’ve got families to protect.”

Exum is unequivocal that he’s supporting Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but acknowledges he runs into the same frustration with the presidential contest among district voters.

“I tell them, ‘I understand your concern. I vote with my heart and what’s in my gut, but I also have some knowledge. I do some research, not just what’s on TV. Look into their past. Don’t tell me you don’t like either one, you’ve got to make a decision. They’re the two nominees.’ I don’t want to browbeat them, but I give them reasons why they should vote.”

That’s often when Exum takes out the $5 poll tax receipt – dated Sept. 24, 1964 – given to him by a constituent, to “impress upon them the importance of participating in the election process, especially minorities, to honor the people who marched and fought for their right to vote,” adding, “I believe our forefathers would roll over in their graves if they saw the participation rate.”

Exum says he carries the relic of hard-fought voting rights with him “as a reminder not only for the people but for me. I’m going to honor that every time I get the opportunity.”

Exum is far ahead in fundraising, pulling in $104,742 through the period ending Sept. 14, and has $59,647 on hand, compared with Roupe’s $69,082 in contributions and $27,721 in the bank. Through the most recent reporting deadline, they’ve both spent roughly the same – about $45,000.