Arizona’s Republican Senate primary is heating up—and it’s bound to make for some awkward church barbecues. That’s because the only two candidates currently in the nomination race come from the same, relatively small Mormon “ward” in north Mesa—a congregation now anxiously divided by a campaign that pits two longtime friends and neighbors against each other.
At first glance, the race may look like a standard battle in the so-called “Republican Civil War” being waged across the country. In one camp, there’s Rep. Jeff Flake, a five-term congressman and rising star in the GOP establishment with a moderate record on immigration (the state’s hottest issue). In the other there’s Wil Cardon, a wealthy businessman with Tea Party ties who’s running as an outsider and pledging to “change Washington.”