Turning Point USA’s political arm spent months pouring money and resources into a little-known utility election in Arizona, an effort that contributed to massive increase in voter turnout but ultimately failed to stave off a challenge from a slate of clean-energy candidates.
Salt River Project held elections on Tuesday for the boards and councils that set policy and make other decisions on behalf of its water and power utilities.
For years, those elections have flown under the radar due to a number of factors, including its unique electoral system that only allows landowners within SRP territory to cast votes. And, for most positions, those votes are allocated based on a landowner’s total acreage, giving large property owners more influence and leaving most homeowners with a fraction of a vote.
But there was an explosion in interest this year, with more than 36,000 ballots cast in the election for the power utility election alone, also called the District, which provides energy for more than 1 million people. That’s up from an average of 7,500 votes over the past two elections, an SRP spokesperson said.
That came after Turning Point Action — the political arm of the Turning Point USA organization founded by Charlie Kirk that often factors into statewide and national races — waged a large-scale get out the vote campaign and endorsed a slate of pro-industry candidates, many of whom have served on SRP’s boards and councils for years.
A competing slate of candidates calling itself the SRP Clean Energy team also hit the streets, knocking on doors and encouraging participation with support from a coalition of environmental and pro-renewable energy groups.
The results
Turning Point’s effort did not result in a clean sweep for its candidates, according to unofficial results released on Wednesday night.
Instead, a slate of clean-energy candidates is claiming victory after it won five seats on the board for SRP’s power utility. The wins give clean-energy advocates an 8-6 majority on the board, which they say they will use to push SRP management to adopt more solar, battery storage and other renewable energy options.
“I can say that the board members have just kind of been followers of management, so whatever management wanted, they got it,” said Sandra Kennedy, a member of the clean energy slate. “I think it's a new day.”
Kennedy lost to Chris Dobson, who was backed by Turning Point, in the District president race, but she retained a seat on the board she won in 2024.
Another Turning Point-endorsed candidate, Barry Paceley, won the vice president race over clean-energy candidate Casey Clowes. Clowes also retained her seat on the board.
Both Dobson and Paceley won by significant margins.
Turning Point Action did not respond to a request for comment, but claimed a “huge victory” on social media.
“Democrats had told donors this was the inevitable year they would win President and Vice President of SRP and control the agenda,” Tyler Bowyer, a Turning Point executive, said on social media. “They failed massively with a huge turnout.”
But Kennedy, a former state lawmaker and past member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, said that analysis fundamentally misunderstands how the board operates.
She said winning the president and VP positions isn’t as important as taking a board majority, because the president only casts tie-breaking votes.
“He doesn't get a vote unless there's a tie, which is, I think, kind of great for us, and I don’t see anybody talking about that,” Kennedy said. “With us having eight members on the board and them having six, I'm not sure when his tie will actually come into effect.”
Bowyer also suggested that the election results amount to a win for Turning Point, because much of SRP land is located in “the deepest blue territories in Arizona,” including areas won by Democrat Kamala Harris in the last presidential election.
But, again, critics said Bowyer was failing to understand the realities of the SRP election, including the landowner-based voting rules, which don’t allow renters and other SRP customers who don’t own land to vote in the election.
They say, under those acreage-based rules, SRP elections have historically favored large landowners and the candidates they back.
“Clean energy voters turned out in force to demand accountability and lower energy bills from SRP,” said Vianey Olivarría with Chispa Arizona PAC, one of the groups backing the clean energy slate. “The only reason we did not see a clean energy sweep is because of SRP’s archaic acreage-based process, which allows wealthy land owners to drown out the voices of everyday customers,”
There is evidence that Turning Point’s participation in the SRP elections may have actually cost their candidates seats this time around.
Many of the candidates endorsed by Turning Point had won previous elections to SRP’s boards and councils before the conservative group ever became involved in the race.
According to SRP records, 18 of the 24 candidates endorsed by Turning Point were already serving on a board or council.
The clean energy slate flipped two seats on the power district board.
Lupe Conchas and Ken Clark defeated Leslie Williams and Nick Vanderwey, who were both backed by Turning Point. Those seats are currently held by Leslie Williams and Stephen Williams.
The fallout
Turning Point is a major organizing force in state and national politics and played a role in helping President Donald Trump retake the White House in 2024. But the group has increasingly become focused on local races in Arizona, as well, most recently spearheading the recall of a Republican on the Mesa City Council who backed Harris over Trump.
Bowyer told Axios Phoenix last year that Turning Point was using the SRP race to build its ground game ahead of future major elections.
Critics say if that was the goal, the results of the SRP election are a major black eye for the organization.
“Complete botch job by Turning Point Action, losing majority of SRP board seats to leftists,” said Republican Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin, a regular Turning Point critic. “Arizona Republican candidates should look elsewhere for help this November, since these guys can’t hack it.”
It’s unclear exactly how much money Turning Point has spent on the effort, because it has not filed any required campaign finance disclosure. But Bowyer, Turning Point Action’s COO, told Phoenix New Times the organization “injected millions of dollars of capital” into the election.
A separate group funded by construction companies and other business groups, called Arizonans for Responsible Growth, also spent $160,000 backing the same candidates, according to state campaign finance filings.
There was also money behind the clean-energy team.
Chispa AZ PAC, which is funded by the League of Conservation Voters, reported spending around $150,000 on the race.
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