The seat has been occupied by the same senator for decades and is now coveted by three Republican candidates.

A former Erie County sheriff looking to clean up Albany, a former Erie County GOP chairman who says he will bring jobs to western New York, and a former East Aurora mayor who takes pride in his relationships with voters, are each vying for the seat being vacated by Dale Volker, who is retiring.

Patrick Gallivan, Jim Domagalski and David DiPietro stood head-to-head in a 59th Senate seat debate on YNN Thursday evening.

A hotly contested question: How will the candidates reform Albany? As the endorsed Tea Party candidate, DiPietro said term limits are key.

"I believe in New York State term limits is the first thing before you do anything else of you can term limit elected officials and they know they're not going to back to Albany. It will cut all the special interest that are dripping all over every elected official," DiPietro said.

Mr. Gallivan said ethics reform is the necessary mean. He is the only Republican in this race that has signed onto the initiative New York Uprising.

"Signing onto this calls for reforms in three different areas: ethics reform, independent redistricting, and budget reform," Gallivan said.

Domagalski answered the question with a challenge for Gallivan.

"The first thing we need to do is seriously reform the system by ending pensions for legislators, and I challenge Mr. Gallivan, who has said nothing on this issue, to agree with me that pensions should be eliminated. I've also called for a 25 percent cut in legislators' pay and I've called for term limits," Domagalski said.

The primary election for the 59th seat is September 14. The winner will face Democrat Cynthia Appleton in November.