SRP Election Results: Clean Energy Team Wins Board Seats, Turning Point USA Takes President and Vice President Posts
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Split Vote at Phoenix Utility Leaves Conservatives and Progressives Sharing Power
PHOENIX — The Salt River Project election delivered an unexpected outcome Wednesday, with conservative and progressive groups splitting control of the Arizona utility. Clean Energy Team candidates won a majority of board seats, while Turning Point USA-backed candidates captured the positions of president and vice president.
The unofficial results released Wednesday evening show the election created a divided leadership structure at SRP, one of the nation's largest public utilities serving more than 2 million Arizona households.
"It appears the Salt River Project executive board will have conservative and progressive-backed candidates, with other candidates from both sides leading their races," according to Az Family reporting on the election results.
Conservative Victory at Top Positions
Turning Point USA, the conservative activist group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, endorsed nine candidates in the race. While the group lost the majority of board seats to the Clean Energy Team, two of their candidates won the executive positions that control the utility's direction.
Chris Dobson won the position of SRP president with a significant lead over his opponent Sandra Kennedy. The votes showed Dobson earning 5,401.07 votes for the District and 5,373.48 votes for the Association, compared to Kennedy's 3,994.40 and 3,964.98 votes respectively.
Barry Paceley secured the vice president position, defeating Casey Clowes and Keith Woods. Paceley received 4,530.90 votes for the District and 4,498.60 for the Association.
Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin, who campaigned for both Dobson and Paceley, called the overall result a "complete botch job" for Turning Point Action while celebrating the executive victories.
"I'm very happy that Chris Dobson and Barry Paceley won SRP President and VP, respectively. They earned it by campaigning hard and tapping in to widespread goodwill and impressive credentials," Galvin posted on X.
Clean Energy Team Controls Board Seats
The Clean Energy Team, a coalition of environmental and progressive groups including Indivisible Mesa and the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, won the majority of board positions.
Krista O'Brien secured an at-large District Board Seat 12 with 23,384 votes, more than doubling her opponent Rusty Kennedy's 12,172 votes.
Kathy Mohr-Almeida won at-large District Board Seat 14 with 23,054 votes against Kelly Cooper's 12,496 votes.
The Clean Energy Team also won several division-level positions, including seats on the Board of Governors and Council in various divisions across SRP's service area.
The Stakes: Energy, Water, and Data Centers
The SRP election fills the roles of president, vice president and board and council positions across two organizations: the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association and the Salt River Agricultural Improvement and Power District.
The positions carry four-year terms and give elected officials significant power over:
- Setting electricity and water rates
- Deciding what technology and power generation methods SRP will invest in
- Addressing the utility's massive expansion needs
SRP has projected it will need to double its power capacity within a decade to accommodate growing demand. The Phoenix area has become a major destination for data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facilities, driving the need for additional power.
The election took on national significance amid these competing visions for Arizona's energy future. Turning Point USA entered the race to prevent what they called a "Green New Deal" from taking hold in Arizona and to avoid what they described as a rapid shift to renewable energy.
On the other side, environmental groups pushed for aggressive clean energy investments and wanted to ensure data center companies pay their fair share for the power they consume.
Record Turnout Amid Rising Bills
This election drew far more attention than usual for the typically under-the-radar utility contests that happen every two years. The race gained national attention amid rising power and water rates that have become a hot-button issue for Arizona residents.
SRP has received approximately 35,000 ballot requests for Tuesday's election, more than double the requests compared to 2024. The utility serves more than 1.1 million power customers in metro Phoenix.
Votes for most positions are weighted by acreage, so large landowners carry outsized sway in the election. This structure is tied to SRP's origins in the early 1900s when it was created to serve agricultural and rural communities.
What Comes Next
The final results will be canvassed on Monday, when official certifications will be completed. The two elected boards work with management to establish policies and will begin setting the direction for SRP's investments in power generation, rate structures, and environmental commitments.
The split outcome means that both sides will have significant influence over the utility's decisions. The Clean Energy Team controls the majority of board seats, giving them substantial power to shape policy through board votes. However, the president and vice president roles serve as conduits between the elected officials and the utility's management team, allowing them to advocate for their priorities at the executive level.
This dynamic will determine how SRP addresses the pressing questions of the decade: how to power Arizona's growing data center industry while managing water conservation, how to balance rate increases with environmental commitments, and whether the utility will pursue aggressive clean energy investments or maintain a more traditional energy approach.
The election results will likely drive policy debates for years to come as SRP's new leadership grapples with these competing priorities and the utility's role in Arizona's energy and water future.