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DAVIDSON Greg Brannon repeatedly challenged House Speaker Thom Tillis conservative credentials Tuesday while Tillis saved his punches for Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in the first debate of the Republican U.S. Senate primary.

The two Republicans dominated the debate with their back-and-forth as Mark Harris and Heather Grant sought to remain largely above the fray.

The debate before a live television audience and more than 600 people at Davidson College received national attention. It came two days before the start of early voting and two weeks before the May 6 primary.

It gave the highest profile yet to a race where no candidate has emerged as dominant and one largely defined by millions of dollars in outside super-PAC spending.

Tillis is favored by the Republican establishment, endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but polls show him short of the 40 percent necessary to avoid a July 15 runoff. The numbers suggest Brannon and Harris could be competing for second place and a runoff against Tillis.

Despite the need to differentiate themselves, the four candidates found more common ground. All oppose the Affordable Care Act. All oppose medical marijuana. All want to eliminate federal agencies. All believe Russia is the biggest foreign policy threat. And all believe climate change is not a fact.

The debate represented the first time all four leading candidates traded jousts and showcased the ideological battle within the race and the broader Republican Party. Brannon cited the Constitution at least 15 times in the first dozen questions, while Tillis advocated a practical conservatism that encouraged bipartisan cooperation.

Brannon used the first question on immigration to paint Tillis as weak and followed with two more attacks on Obamacare and Common Core education standards, a pattern that persisted through the hourlong debate.

This is a distinction between Thom and I, he said repeatedly.

An emerging issue in the race that didnt get mentioned: the 2012 departure of two top Tillis legislative staffers after they admitted affairs with lobbyists an issue Democrats and Republicans are using to question the speakers ethics. At the time Tillis said they resigned and gave them taxpayer-funded severance packages worth nearly $20,000.

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Republican Senate candidates pledge to close federal departments