The two candidates vying for the seat of Pembroke West Central appear to have much in common: both are highly educated, dynamic young men in their thirties who run businesses and have the energy to spend their spare time knocking on doors in their constituency and helping residents make the neighbourhood a safer place.

Ideologically, there also seems to be little to divide them. David Burt and Nick Kempe both speak of the economy and education as the key issues that matter to their constituents in this coming election and both believe their parties have the power to bring about change for the better.

But one key difference for this pair is how the outcome of the vote on July 18 will affect them. If Mr Kempe succeeds, he will become an elected MP — and an actual politician, as opposed to an aspiring one — for the first time. If his party, the One Bermuda Alliance, wins the election and remains in government, there is every chance he may get a seat in Cabinet, too.

If he loses the seat, as he did in 2012 by just 83 votes, he says he will “probably” continue working in the constituency anyway, as he has for the past five years. One thing he aims to make clear to people on the doorstep is that this is his neighbourhood — he lives on Tablerock Avenue with his wife — and he is not here to talk to them just because there is an election afoot.

The stakes are arguably a little higher for Mr Burt, the incumbent for the past 4½ years in Constituency 18 and, of course, the Leader of the Opposition. If he wins the seat and his party, the Progressive Labour Party wins the election, he will become Bermuda’s youngest premier, aged only 38.

“That is a thing,” admits the married father of two, who lives “a minute away”, in nearby Constituency 17. “I would be lying to say that I don’t consider it, but the way in which we consider it — my wife and I, when we have a discussion — is we just consider it insofar as how it will change things for our family.”

He adds: “When you are in office, there is an incredibly large and competent Civil Service. There is a team: you have a team of ministers, you are supported by a team of MPs. It’s [about] being captain of the ship, making sure that the direction is there.”

Mr Burt considers Pembroke West Central a safe PLP seat, although he admits it is less safe now than it was under his PLP predecessor, Neletha Butterfield. She won the seat in 2007 with a majority of 366. In 2012, Mr Burt won 415 votes, compared with 332 for Mr Kempe and 87 for independent Phil Perinchief.

He believes Mr Perinchief, a former PLP MP and Attorney-General, split the PLP vote back then and notes the absence of an independent candidate this time.

“I am confident that the people of this constituency will return a Progressive Labour Party Member of Parliament,” says Mr Burt, adding that “some healing” has “without question” had to take place in the constituency since the last election, when “we saw a lot of changes in the size of majorities”.

Mr Kempe, 34, sees Pembroke West Central as a marginal seat, where he stands a real, if outside, chance of being voted in as MP. He is proud of how he narrowed the gap last time around, after being selected for the constituency by theOBA seven months before the December 2012 General Election.

Entering politics had never crossed his mind, he says, until he was challenged to get involved by someone listening to him complain about the economy at a cocktail party.

“I tend to throw myself into things,” adds Mr Kempe, who is president of his family’s business, Bermuda Forwarders. “I kind of said ‘why not’. The election ended up being seven months later. I was actually able to make it around the neighbourhood a couple of times and chat to most people.”

In the aftermath of his defeat in the last election, Mr Kempe told a reporter: “I feel good. My only regret is that I got into the race so late that I only had a chance to speak to some 600 people in seven months and I’ll keep banging on doors over the next five years.”

He insists that is exactly what he has done, setting up his 90:30 initiative, in which he and a variety of residents spend 90 minutes every 30 days tackling small projects around the neighbourhood. They recently cut back overgrowth obscuring a bus stop on Ingham Vale, which had been worrying seniors.

Mr Kempe, who made a campaign advertisement for social media about those efforts, says the scheme has proved “a little contagious” and “other neighbours have started following suit”.

Mr Burt also enjoys knocking on doors and says he, too, has worked on practical projects around the neighbourhood, getting physically involved and calling the right people in government to request that work be done. “I just don’t make videos about it,” he adds.

The president of GMD Consulting, an IT and small business consulting firm, organises an annual seniors’ tea and set up two Neighbourhood Watch schemes to improve home security, fulfilling an election pledge, although he claims one became “politicised” and he stopped getting invited to meetings.

No matter, adds Mr Burt, because when he talks to people on their doorsteps, they don’t want to discuss “silly things” such as that: they want to know what his party will do to improve schools and get the economy back on track.

Those are the same issues that Mr Kempe, who talks of “building community through less of a partisan lens, if possible”, spends time talking to constituents about.

The candidates have similarities in these areas: both went to private school and Mr Burt studied finance at university, while Mr Kempe studied economics.

Mr Kempe acknowledges that public schools have been “underserved for decades” and have left some Bermudians “unable to access the workplace”.

He does not favour a massive overhaul of the education system but “incremental improvements”. Education, he believes, is a key tool in ensuring people begin life from “an equal starting line”.

He says: “There is no silver bullet.” But he believes that turning the economy around — so the Government can spend more on education than it does on debt, for example — will surely help.

“A lot of times, people have national economic questions; I enjoy breaking them down,” says Mr Kempe, who believes raising taxes will drive business away from the island.

Mr Burt has pledged to send his children to public school when they are old enough, explaining: “As someone who wants to lead the community, that’s a measure that demonstrates that we are going to have confidence in that system.”

Of his party’s stance, he says: “It’s about putting Bermudians first. It’s about making sure we properly fund education and make sure that education delivers for our students.”

He claims one school in his constituency — West Pembroke Primary — has only two working computers and no wi-fi. “These are not problems that are difficult to fix, but it’s a real issue when an individual is told there is no money for it,” he adds.

The former junior finance minister says job creation and job training will be key priorities for the PLP, as it seeks to boost the employment rate.

Another issue that may be a factor for voters in this constituency, as in others, is same-sex marriage. And here, for all the candidates’ commonalities, a distinct difference can be found.

Mr Burt has publicly stated his opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions. Despite a May 5 court ruling that allows gay couples to wed in Bermuda, he says: “When I knock on the doors of this constituency, it’s clear that members of this constituency do not believe that same-sex marriage is the law of the land. I represent my constituents’ views; I remain consistent.”

Mr Kempe voted in favour of civil unions in last year’s referendum, although he is unwilling to reveal how he voted on same-sex marriage.

He also encouraged constituents to vote for one of the two options, believing that Bermuda, legally, was obligated to “provide relief for the deficiency in our laws”.

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