oh yeah, the Stephens vs. Bilbo primary is what I was thinking of. legitimate policy differences between the two, with one even clearly more racist than the other, but what really mattered was power.
Stephens was willing to intervene personally when a Black man might be tortured to death in front of him by a death squad. not intervene very hard and not enough to actually save him, but still not enough for the Bilbo folks who wanted a True Believer (among other things.)