The dust has settled from November’s elections. But not for one former City Council member who found herself on the ballot earlier than expected.
Julie Spilsbury was recalled from the Mesa City Council after five years. The race pitted her — a “politically homeless” Republican — versus a challenger endorsed by Turning Point USA.
Spilsbury was targeted by the right wing activist group after publicly endorsing Democrats Kamala Harris and Ruben Gallego in 2024.
The recall effort hit home for her — and still stings. But, she says she has no regrets.
Spilsbury grew up in Mesa, around the corner from her now-husband. They chose to stay in Mesa and raise their six kids there. When they were younger, she was really involved in their schools and then, former Mesa mayor — and fellow anti-Trump Republican — John Giles asked her to run for City Council.
Full conversation
JULIE SPILSBURY: I started watching all of the meetings and there was no mother on the City Council at the time. There was only one woman out of seven. And, and I realized really, she wasn't a mother.
And so I realized really quickly that my voice was not represented on the on the City Council. And so I just felt like that was the next best place to serve a city that I love.
LAUREN GILGER: At first she said she had imposter syndrome, but then she told me a Facebook comment changed her mind.
SPILSBURY: Someone that I went to high school with, involved in politics in our area wrote on Facebook that I was too compassionate for politics. And that kind of lit a fire under me. And compassion's my superpower. I bring cinnamon rolls to meetings, I'll bring cinnamon rolls to you are mad at me and before I'm ever going to yell at you, right? Like, I'm a mom of six and I am not embarrassed about that. And I got to bring that, like, who I am, my voice, my emotion, my deep compassion for people.
GILGER: But that is what may have led to her political downfall before she became a pro-Kamala Harris Republican, Spilsbury supported a city nondiscrimination ordinance that she saw as protecting her LGBTQ friends and family, but critics said allowed transgender women to use women's restrooms. And she voted to approve housing the homeless in a Mesa hotel.
SPILSBURY: You know, truly, there's just so like, homeless is just one more group, like immigrants, refugees, veterans. Like, there's so many people on the edges of our society that need a voice and that need people to fight for them.
And I don't view that as conservative or liberal, but it definitely made me a target.
GILGER: Recall organizers also criticized her votes to raise councilmembers' salaries and utility rates.
But she told me the hardest part of being targeted for this recall effort for her was at church. A lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she says she's seeing a political divide today, even among her own faith community.
SPILSBURY: I think I was quite shocked by it. It's been especially hard. I'm still very, very active in my faith. Sorry. You can hear how much pain that this has been.
GILGER: That's OK.
SPILSBURY: But just so many people that I go to church with every Sunday, you know, supported the recall and have been opposed to my views for five years when I'm just trying to serve a community that I love.
And I don't view anything that I've done as being, you know, anti-Republican or anti-conservative. I mean, on a local level, it's more hands-on government. It just is. So you might have like the limited government view, but when you're down in a local government position, it's much more hands-on. And it's supposed to be that way.
Local government affects your life so much more than any other level of government, but it's the level that people pay the least amount of attention.
GILGER: I say that to people all the time. As a local journalist.
SPILSBURY: Yes.
GILGER: So I mean, it sounds like you're so you're a lifelong member of the LDS Church and have six kids, like very active in your community.
SPILSBURY: Five of my kids have served missions.
GILGER: Wow. Yeah. I mean, so tell us more about that conflict, right. Like, there is definitely, it seems, a branch of, of the LDS community that have been skeptical of Donald Trump, maybe because of moral issues. Are you in that camp?
SPILSBURY: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And it is interesting. It does kind of feel like a divide is happening. And I can't quite figure it out. Our highest leaders of our church have said things like voting a straight party ticket is a threat to democracy, and we should look for candidates who demonstrate integrity and compassion and service to others.
And that we might at times have to support candidates or parties that we wouldn't normally support the rest of their platform and that we should never, ever say that you can't be a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints and vote for xyz. So this is what our top leaders are saying.
But it's almost like to a lot of people, the fact that I decided very, I mean, it was very, very hard for me to decide last fall to publicly endorse Kamala Harris and Ruben Gallego, but I could not support Donald Trump and Kari Lake.
And so I came out and I mean, that was it. Like, that was the thing Turning Point decided that I had to be out of office. And so many people in my church, in my faith, went along with it. Like, I'll just never understand it.
I'm the very first person in Mesa's 140-year history to get recalled.
GILGER: I mean, what does that feel like for you, especially? Because, you know, it sounds like the LDS community in Mesa, I know, is very tight knit and you're very involved in it.
SPILSBURY: Very tight, yeah.
GILGER: Did you have conversations with these folks? Like, what was this like?
SPILSBURY: We've been in the same church congregation for 18 years. Our youngest was 1 year old when we moved in, and she's 19 now. Like, this is where I, you know, raised my kids, and my husband served as the bishop of our congregation for five years. Like, we're very involved in our church community.
You know, it is tricky. It is so, so painful and so hard to show up every Sunday when I know that half of my church congregation is mad at me or doesn't agree with me or wants me out of office. The Sunday after I lost, I didn't even want to go to church. And I was supposed to play the organ that Sunday in our, in our church congregation.
And then I got asked to play the piano for a musical number for some of the teenage girls that were singing. And you know, I just, I believe that we're all worshiping the same God and that we want the same things and trying to. Like, in the LDS faith, we're, we're geographically situated, right? So we attend a church where we live. You don't get to pick where you go to church where you feel comfortable.
GILGER: Right.
SPILSBURY: And I think that as hard as that is, that's what helps us to become more like Jesus Christ. And so I gotta still show up every Sunday, and I gotta experience that friction and that tension with people and still try to see them as my brothers and sisters and still try to see them, the good in them. And hopefully they can see the good in me and we can move on. But it is, it has been very challenging. It's very hard.
GILGER: Do you think there's a piece of that that's brought you closer to your faith, maybe because of that challenge?
SPILSBURY: Oh, absolutely. In fact, I think one of the most interesting things about this is, like, as I was exposed more to the LGBTQ community and the homeless community and all these marginalized groups that broke my heart when I sat and listened to their stories. It's actually just made me such a better person, and I have so much more love in my heart, and I'm so much closer to my to my heavenly Father.
And so I actually am stronger in my faith. But the people who view me as maybe, you know, wicked or on the evil side, that would be interesting for them to hear me say that, right?
GILGER: So this was a race, a very local race, right, that became very national because of the attention on Turning Point USA, because this was one of the last campaigns that the founder, Charlie Kirk, worked on before he was assassinated.
I wonder, like, is it fair of them in a way? They don't like your brand of conservatism. They don't like some of the votes that you took. Fair enough. Like, this is how politics works. They can get you recalled.
SPILSBURY: You know, I have got a lot of strong feelings about this. I think it's horrible to bring national political ideologies into a City Council. I don't know how I could have ever been able to fight that. I only lost my 762 votes. But to try to, you know, face a national organization, and there were much bigger races across the country.
GILGER: But I wonder, like, is this, you think, kind of how politics is gonna function today or already is functioning today in terms of being able to use this kind of national organization in these very local races and in pretty powerful ways. Is it, you think, not reflecting the will of the voters?
SPILSBURY: I don't think it's reflecting the will of voters. I really don't. And especially against our school boards, our city councils, they need to stay nonpartisan because every single voice matters. And when you start running partisan races, you have to pander to a group of people. And so you're standing up for what will get you reelected, not for what you think is the right thing to do.
And you end up with a lot of politicians and not a lot of leaders, right. So I tried to stand up for what I felt was right. I did it with my eyes wide open. I got recalled for it. I knew that was always gonna be a possibility. But I don't have any regrets because I have to live with myself.
So I have to do what I feel is right. But I am absolutely heartbroken and sickened. Frankly, I'm horrified that this could be the direction that we're headed, that we're gonna turn city councils and school boards into partisan politics.
GILGER: Right. Do you think that's where it's headed? Like local nonpartisan races are gonna become partisan? There was actually an effort locally at the state Legislature to make that happen last session. I mean, is this, you think the future?
SPILSBURY: I sure hope not. I mean, I don't know. I hope enough people stand up and say, we don't want this. We don't want this. Look, any kind of organization or committee or board, you need diversity. I don't want seven women on our City Council. I don't want seven Republicans. I don't want seven LDS people. I don't want seven of anything. I want all the different voices.
We are stronger when we have different backgrounds, different opinions, and diversity of viewpoints, and we come up with better solutions to really complex issues when we have all the voices. And I don't think anything could be more harmful to our city than saying we want everyone to think the same way.
There's no growth in that. There's no learning in that. I'm super passionate about working across the aisle, bridging political divides.
Mesa is amazing right now. Mesa was just voted the Number 1 best run city in the state of Arizona by WalletHub. It's Number 9 in the nation for best places to live.
We're doing really well, and I credit Mayor Giles and a lot of the magic that's happened on our City Council is that we all treat each other with respect, with dignity. We work together really well, even when we disagree. We don't ever make it personal. We don't ever attack each other.
And I worry that when we bring in partisan politics, and that's the vibe right now, is we don't want anyone around us that doesn't agree with us. I just can't think of anything more. I'm very worried about the future of Mesa because of that.
GILGER: So were you, or are you surprised that you lost in the end? I mean, they had a lot of money, a lot of volunteers, a lot of people trying to get votes out against you, but those people still turned out to vote. You lost by 700-some votes. I mean, were you surprised?
SPILSBURY: I was surprised. I mean, I knew I could lose. Of course, I didn't know what would happen. I think it was kind of like just the most beautiful thing that happened with my campaign. I had a Republican campaign manager and a Democrat campaign manager that were both working on my campaign. I had Dems and Republicans and independents out knocking doors for me for eight weeks.
I had Dems and Republicans writing postcards, making phone calls. Like, it was truly just this really unique, beautiful coalition of people who care about Mesa that came together, and we didn't care what party we were from. And that, to me, is, like, that's my goal. Like, that's what the purpose of this life is.
And it was beautiful to see so many people working together. I raised over $100,000 from just tons and tons of small donations from people. I had a lot of support. I had a lot of people that were inspired by me standing up to this as a Republican and not, you know, being afraid and not going along with it, just to go along with it.
And so I was hopeful that, like, in the end, kindness could prevail. I think way too many people do not pay attention. They just, they got to more people than I did. I don't know. I, I'm still. Two weeks later, I'm still just in utter disbelief that it even happened. And I'm really sad. I'm really, really sad.
