The wild, national politics-infused scene at the Carmel mayoral debate last night

Plus: How the Indiana congressional delegation voted on the bid to vacate now-former Speaker Kevin McCarthy

CARMEL, Ind.—The culture wars simmered. Nicknames fired across the stage. A candidate even invoked Donald Trump.

Less than a week ago, in picturesque Simi Valley, Calif., footsteps from the grave of the late Ronald Reagan, I sat on the grounds of the Reagan Library amid hundreds of national and international journalists, watching the second GOP presiden…