California voters are making lots of decisions in Tuesday’s primary election. They’re choosing candidates for a new governor as Jerry Brown retires from a lifetime in politics, and they’re choosing whether to nominate Senator Dianne Feinstein for a sixth term. And in seven Republican districts that favored Hillary Clinton in 2016, they’re choosing whether to send Democrats to Washington instead.

New York Times photographers in each of these districts spoke to voters to find out what is motivating them — and what message they hope the results on Tuesday send. “I think it’s important to have a say in the community that we build,” said Kennedy Monterroza, an 18-year-old Democrat from Oceanside, in the 49th District. She is voting for the first time on Tuesday. “That is the first level of making a change in the country as a whole,” she said.

Follow live coverage from Times journalists as voters head to the polls.