Howard Fischer/Capitol Media Services

Democrat gubernatorial hopefuls David Garcia, Steve Farley and Kelly Fryer face off in a televised debate on Aug. 2, 2018, with host Ted Simons

The three Democratic gubernatorial candidates refuted Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's claim that job and population growth show he’s doing a good job.

Ducey is touting reports that show Arizona is a good place to start a business and the state's jobless rate has dropped — though it remains higher than the national average.

In a debate Thursday night between the Democratic candidates, education professor David Garcia said those figures fail to illustrate the bigger picture.

"There may be jobs. But Arizonans have to hold down two or three of them to pay the bills," said Garcia.

State sen.  Steve Farley said Arizonans are seeing their wages go down, though he later clarified that he meant in comparison with keeping pace with inflation. And businesswoman Kelly Fryer said the state needs to measure the health of the economy based on how the poor and middle class are doing versus the rich.

Early voting ballots were mailed from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office this week and the primary is Aug. 28.