Turning Point gets its ass handed to it in Arizona regional untility election.
This might not be the kind of turning point they had in mind.
Leadership elections for the Salt River Project are usually sleepy affairs, but this year’s races were unusually high-profile. That’s because Turning Point Action, the political arm of the Charlie Kirk-founded Turning Point USA, decided to flex its financial and organizational might in the battle to control the massive public utility, which serves 2 million customers throughout much of the East Valley. Turning Point spent gobs of money advertising for a pro-industry slate of candidates and even sent an army of employees and volunteers to harvest ballots — a legal practice in SRP elections — in hopes of fending off a progressive slate called the Clean Energy Team.
For all that effort, Turning Point’s toxic brand may have worked against it. Per unofficial results released by SRP, Turning Point-backed candidates Chris Dobson and Barry Paceley comfortably won the presidency and vice presidency, respectively, of both the SRP district and SRP association. (The former provides electricity and sets energy rates, while the latter is a water utility.) But the Clean Energy Team flipped two seats on the 14-member district board, shifting control of the body to clean-energy-friendly board members.
As a result, SRP will be governed by a board of directors that, on balance, is more open to renewable energy investment and more skeptical of fossil fuels and data centers. The Clean Energy team also gained several seats on the district’s 30-member advisory council. In fact, in 13 head-to-head races for district leadership — including races for president and vice president — Clean Energy Team candidates won 11 of the matchups.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-srp-elections-big-loss-turning-point-candidates-40658264/