His campaign has put over 10,000 miles on his car and it’s not over yet.

U.S. Senate candidate Wil Cardon is running for a U.S. Senate seat in the 2012 Republican primary, in particular the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Jon Kyl [R], though he’s facing an uphill battle against U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake [R-District 6], a five-term congressman and fellow Mormon from Mesa. Cardon recently met with Verde Valley Republicans when they hosted him for a speaking engagement in West Sedona on Jan. 18.

“We’ve been traveling all over the state since the middle of November,” Cardon said. “That’s what this election is about. It’s going to be hard work and I don’t think my opponent in this race is going to work nearly as hard as I am. The guys with the resources to really compete right now are really Jeff Flake and me.”

In his campaign, Cardon said the economy rates the highest when it comes to important issues for Arizonans.

“The economy is the biggest by far. Right now people are hurting. We need jobs and we need to send people back to Washington, D.C., who have actually created jobs and held jobs in the private sector,” Cardon said. “You can read all you want to about it in a book, but unless you have practical experience doing it, you don’t know how to do it. I think there are a lot of good intentions in Congress, but they don’t ever get through because people don’t have the ability to argue and persuade people and say ‘this is how it works.’”

Cardon has been involved in his family’s business since he was a child and worked as a janitor at one of his family’s gasoline stations. He attended Stanford for a degree in public policy and later started an automobile leasing business, a job Cardon said included work as a repo man.

“I went back to Harvard Business School and was the only repo man in my class,” Cardon said.

He decided to enter politics due to a desire to see an outsider enter the race.

“I didn’t see an outsider. I’m tired of career politicians,” Cardon said. “I think most of this state and most of America is tired of career politicians. We want to see some change. If you want to see change, it’s not just talking about it as we had in the last election. It’s actually getting it done.”

Cardon also wants a senator who is “consistently conservative” on issues.

“That’s why I’m running,” Cardon said.

On any given week, he’s making calls, attending speaking engagements throughout the state, “getting the message out.”

“I don’t think higher taxes are the solution. Lower taxes are the solution, anything that can create growth,” Cardon said.

Besides Arizona, Cardon has lived in Brazil and Utah. He also traveled to Portugal as part of a Mormon mission.

When it comes to the Republican primary, Cardon said he hopes voters will remember they have a choice.