The SRP election caught most Arizonans completely off guard, and then it became one of the most-watched utility board races in state history. What started as a sleepy, low-turnout local election turned into a four-times-higher-than-normal turnout event the moment Turning Point USA put its logo on candidate signs, and the fallout is still rippling through Arizona energy policy, water politics, and the 2026 election cycle.

Chuck Coughlin is the CEO and President of HighGround Inc., Arizona's longest continuously operating public affairs firm. A five-time winner of Arizona's Best Political Operative award from the Arizona Capital Times, Chuck has run gubernatorial and congressional campaigns, worked alongside Senator John McCain, and has been a strategist and lobbyist for clients including the City of Phoenix, Maricopa County, and the Salt River Project itself. If anyone can break down what actually happened and what it means, it is him.

What you will learn in this episode:

Why most Arizonans had never heard of an SRP election before this year, and why that changed overnight
How SRP's voting structure works, including the acreage-based system that traces back to 1903 federal law
Why SRP territory residents have essentially no water insecurity, and how electricity revenue subsidizes that water supply
What actually separated the two slates, including the real policy debate over natural gas as a peak-power resource
How Turning Point's logo on candidate signs triggered a partisan wave in a nonpartisan election and produced historic turnout
Why the new board majority could create friction with SRP management and what that means for rate stability
How Arizona utilities are expected to double their generating capacity in the next decade to meet data center demand
Why SRP, APS, and Tucson Electric are all requiring data centers to sign base-load contracts so ratepayers are not on the hook
The key structural difference between SRP as a not-for-profit federal franchise and APS as a for-profit investor-owned utility regulated by the Arizona Corporation Commission
What Attorney General Kris Mayes taking on APS over rate increases could mean for Arizona consumers
What the Project Blue data center fight in Tucson reveals about how communities can push back and win
Why Chuck believes open primaries are the only structural fix for a political system he sees as built to oppose rather than govern

Connect with Chuck Coughlin:

Email: info@azhighground.com

Facebook: facebook.com/AZHighGround

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/azhighground

Instagram: instagram.com/azhighground