Turning Point USA is leading the recall effort of a Republican city councilmember in a local Arizona election, preparing to test its influence in the state following Charlie Kirk‘s assassination.
Mesa City Councilwoman Julie Spilsbury is facing a recall vote driven by the conservative organization, which collected signatures to place her on the recall ballot. The group is supporting her opponent, Dorean Taylor, with yard signs and email blasts, according to Politico.
Spilsbury is facing TPUSA opposition in large part due to her support of former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump last year.
While identifying as a Republican, Spilsbury doesn’t identify with Trump’s right-wing base. First elected in 2020, the incumbent won reelection last fall despite her endorsement of Harris.
Mesa leans more conservative. In District 2, represented by Spilsbury, voters backed Trump by roughly 14 points. The city, located some 20 miles east of Phoenix, contains more than 500,000 residents.
During a Mesa City Council meeting in July, Spilsbury criticized the recall effort without naming TPUSA. She described the organization as a “special interest group” funded by “out-of-state dark money” that relied on “paid petition gatherers” for collecting the recall signatures.
TPUSA’s involvement in the recall effort began earlier this year, before Kirk’s death last month. Since the fatal shooting, the group’s campaign against Spilsbury has only intensified.
Tyler Bowyer, a leading member of TPUSA and its political arm, has been relentless in his social media posts against Spilsbury. He has frequently criticized her past support for Harris and likewise targeted her supporters.
“A Julie Spilsbury supporter was one of many who have been vandalizing and stealing signs supporting her opponent,” Bowyer posted on X recently. “He was cited on his birthday for the theft. This is who supports Julie.”
Spilsbury’s role in approving Mesa’s 2021 nondiscrimination ordinance has been used as political ammo by her critics and opponents, who argue it paved the way for biological men to use female restrooms and locker rooms.
TRUMP GIVES CHARLIE KIRK ‘BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT’ WITH MEDAL OF FREEDOM AWARD, ERIKA KIRK SAYS
“In the first month that Spilsbury got elected, she & the former Mayor joined with radical lobbyists to ram a Men in Womens bathroom bill in Mesa,” Bowyer wrote on X. “Years of this emboldened the radicals in Indivisible to now go after the police. Their goal is united. This is who supports Julie!”
Spilsbury has maintained that the “very moderate” measure only applies to employment, housing, and public spaces rather than schools, churches, or sports, according to Axios. In a blog post defending Spilsbury last December, a pro-LGBT organization in the Latter-day Saints community said the policy meant that transgender individuals “could use the bathroom of their choice.”