Turning Point USA backs recall effort against Mesa councilwoman over homeless housing, Harris endorsement
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) has pushed for a Mesa city councilwoman’s defeat in the special election Nov. 4 after residents gathered thousands of signatures to initiate a recall.
Mesa residents were mobilized by TPUSA, headquartered in Phoenix, to petition for city of Mesa Council Member Julie Spilsbury’s recall at the start of her second term in 2025 after she won the re-election by gaining 65% of votes, according to Ballotpedia data.
Turning Point Action’s campaign controversy
After the petition gathered 3,858 valid signatures, TPUSA endorsed candidate Dorean Taylor and even brought canvassers from out of state to help recruit volunteers to boost local voter turnout for their candidate in Mesa.
Brett Galazewski, national enterprise director for the legacy field program, as well as other TPAction staff members, declined requests for an interview.
Galazewski’s X profile is filled with posts that depict him canvassing for Taylor throughout Mesa. His bio reads that he is a “Proud Wisconsinite.”
Noah Formica is another senior field representative for TPAction. His X account shows he is from Pennsylvania, but several posts show him canvassing for Taylor in Mesa from Oct. 20 to 30.
Former state lawmaker and friend of Spilsbury, Rich Crandall, filed a complaint against Turning Point PAC to the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission in August. He argued that the organization has not fully disclosed their campaign spending in Mesa and therefore violates the Voters’ Right to Know Act, according to The Arizona Republic.
Both Taylor and Spilsbury are republicans and the only two candidates on the 2025 local ballot.
Turning Point Action (TPAction), the political arm of TPUSA, had their staff organize a series of “Super Chase” events in October throughout Mesa for volunteers and Mesa residents to attend to garner support for Taylor.
Taylor attended the Super Chase campaigns alongside TPAction representatives to ask District 2 residents to vote for her.
Nonpartisan election takes a turn
City council members are elected to serve on a non-partisan basis. Voters do not see a candidate’s political party next to council member names when they fill out their ballots.
However, partisan politics have been at the forefront of TPAction’s campaign for Taylor.
“We all have different opinions and different views and we’re from different political parties,” Spilsbury said, “but we all respect each other.”
According to Spilsbury, the non-partisanship of Mesa’s city council is crucial for serving the public. “When you call 911, and drive on the roads, and turn on your water, and have your trash picked up—no one’s asking if you’re a republican or a democrat,” she said.
Several claims that Spilsbury misused her position to advance her own private interests were the grounds for her recall. These reasons include a federally funded hotel renovation to create temporary housing, two 2024 initiatives that raised utility rates, and a 2024 ordinance to raise city council salaries.
Spilsbury’s endorsement of Harris in 2024
However, Spilsbury believes she has been targeted for her endorsement of Kamala Harris, a democrat, in the 2024 presidential election.
Volunteers and residents at the Super Chase event on Oct. 30 cited the endorsement as a large reason for their opposition to Spilsbury. TPAction volunteer and Mesa resident Charles Chandler said he believes Spilsbury’s presidential endorsement contradicts with the late Charlie Kirk’s beliefs.
“[Spilsbury] is putting on a mask that she is for the conservative movement when in reality she is not,” said Chandler. “She had conservatives for Kamala, which is the exact opposite of what Dorean Taylor and Charlie stood for.”
Former Mesa Mayor John Giles was another republican who publicly endorsed Harris in 2024. His mayoral term ended that same year, but Spilsbury said he has been a supporter of her campaign.
The new District 2 homeless housing behind Spilsbury’s recall
The primary listed reason for Spilsbury’s recall is her support for Ordinance 5817, which was approved by the council in a 4-3 vote back in November 2023. This allowed Mesa to purchase the property of the former Grand Hotel in order to construct a temporary housing facility called “Sunaire” for vulnerable citizens.
But there was pushback from residents, including those who lived outside of her district, Spilsbury said. She went on to acknowledge citizens’ concerns of the government’s role in spending money to help the homeless.
“You end up paying for homelessness either way,” she stated. “ So I would rather do the more humane thing to help give them housing.”
According to the councilwoman, taxpayers are already contributing to the hospital bills and prison costs for a portion of homeless individuals, as well as the legal system in general.
“For every 10 people that receive assistance and are exiting homelessness, there are 19 people waiting for services,” said Lindsey Balinkie, deputy director for Community Services Department of Mesa. She said these statistics are based on Maricopa County data, although Mesa is following the same trend.
Program supports the city’s most vulnerable
Balinkie oversees and plans the usage of several projects that Off the Streets (OTS) is working on, including the Sunaire project. OTS has been in operation since 2020 and has served 374 Mesa citizens as of January 2025, she said.
Sunaire has been under construction since this January. Balinkie expects the new housing facility to open in spring 2026, so that the program can continue serving people in need.
With the council use permit, she said OTS will only be allowed to house homeless individuals, seniors, struggling families, and domestic violence victims at Sunaire.
According to Balinkie, OTS will shut down their converted Windemere Hotel once renovation of the 64 rooms inside the former Grand Hotel building is complete.
“In the program, we are seeing that 85% of those people have a positive exit, meaning they are transitioning to the next positive place in their housing plan,” said Balinkie.
Within the program are many wraparound services that help their temporary residents connect to employment services, medical providers, and behavioral health specialists. They also create a housing plan and provide a case manager who works closely with each individual, she said.
“It’s meant to help reconnect individuals under services and then guide them on their next step in their housing plan as they exit our program,” Balinkie said. Individuals are able to stay in the program for up to 90 days.
She said anyone who wants to leave early can do so on their own free will. If they aren’t ready yet, they must move to another shelter.
“It really depends on the individual or family and what their specific needs are,” she said. “Eventually, we hope that they do exit homelessness and reintegrate into a supportive situation where they feel independent and stabilized again.”
Some residents oppose Mesa’s homeless housing plan
However, there is some opposition to Sunaire as a new temporary housing facility even before it is set to open.
“Are you supporting a lifestyle or are you trying to help people get back on their feet?” said Bob Anderson, a Mesa resident and former volunteer for Chaplaincy for the Homeless.
Anderson said homeless individuals often use drugs for recreation, but it can also become a spiraling addiction that prevents them from getting help.
“When I was helping out, I recognized a lot of the faces and you knew who wanted it as a lifestyle and the people who were just thrown into it,” said Anderson, who is also a former MCC student.
“I don’t approve of encouraging that lifestyle more than I am for getting people help, and that means recovering from their addiction,” he said.
Rising homeless issue due to cost of living
According to Balinkie, OTS and their Sunaire property aren’t the only available options to Mesa’s people in need. “The street outreach and case management team is one of Mesa’s resources created to help people at the street level reconnect with services,” she said.
“With the economic inflation, we’re seeing more and more homeless,” said Christel Armstrong, program manager for St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP).
“More people that would maybe just live in a lower class standard are becoming homeless,” said Armstrong, based on the past five years of working at the Catholic community resource center.
Armstrong said many families that come to SVdP are living in their vehicles and seeking shelter.
According to Spilsbury, the Grand Hotel that resided on the construction site for Sunaire was “rundown” and in poor condition for a long time. She said the new property under OTS should be an improvement for the area and the community surrounding it.
Mesa’s act to prevent discrimination resurfaces in recall election
Another critical event tied to Spilsbury is when Mesa City Council passed a non-discrimination ordinance on March 1, 2021, according to Spilsbury.
The ordinance was put in place to protect people from discrimination in public spaces with the exemption of public schools, religious organizations, “speech and expressive activities” and others, as per the official City of Mesa website.
At the Super Chase event, Mesa residents and TPUSA affiliates voiced that it’s wrong for boys to be allowed in girls’ bathrooms. This was something they claimed Spilsbury had been supportive of.
The ordinance was controversial among many Mesa residents, but it was passed by the council’s 5-2 vote with Spilsbury in the majority, based on the official City Council meeting minutes.
Among the listed comments in critique of the ordinance in the council meeting were strong opposition to transgender men and women using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, and beliefs that allowing people to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity will cause problems.
There was also a high turnout for support of the ordinance from residents at the council meeting in March among different identities.
Christiana Hammond, a representative of Equality Arizona and Mesa resident, said that as a transgender woman, it’s difficult to hear opposition to the ordinance.
“The thing that stood out the most in those statements was that their concerns focus predominantly on transgender people and more specifically transgender women,” Hammond said.
“There are several groups that this ordinance seeks to protect,” she said, “and yet almost every statement in opposition brought up bathrooms and sports.”
Hammond said she felt much safer and valued in places like Tempe and Phoenix where similar non-discrimination ordinances like these were already in place.
Spilsbury said she would pass the ordinance even though many residents may be upset with her.
“We want different opinions; we want to be challenged,” Spilsbury said. “That’s where the learning and the growth comes from.”
