Key Points:

• Nick Myers blasted Turning Point Action after losing his Corporation Commission seat in the July 21 primary

• Campaign finance reports reveal the conservative group funded opposition to Myers but not his running mate

• Winner Ralph Heap faces a campaign finance complaint that could jeopardize all-Republican commission majority

Republicans emerged from the Arizona Corporation Commission primary with a fractured ticket after a newcomer backed by prominent conservative groups bested one of the two incumbents seeking reelection.

Commissioner Kevin Thompson came out on top in the three-way contest, while his running mate and fellow Commissioner Nick Myers fell to Rep. Ralph Heap by just over 16,000 votes. 

Myers’ loss surprised political observers who expected the incumbents to easily defeat Heap and go on to preserve the all-Republican majority on the commission in November. 

Now, Myers and his supporters are criticizing the interest groups who backed Heap’s campaign, arguing they have paved the way for at least one Democrat to pick up a seat on the commission.

The five-member body is tasked with regulating the state’s monopoly utility companies and sets the rates Arizona customers pay for services like electricity, water and gas. Its work has come under increased scrutiny in recent years as ratepayers chafe against rising utility bills.

For Republicans, handing over even one seat on the commission could mean a slow return to “Green New Deal” policies that prioritize clean energy and environmental impact over economic concerns. And while most GOP primary contenders in other races urged their fellow party members to unite around the victors ahead of the general election, Myers did the exact opposite.

He took to social media to lambast Heap and the conservative groups who recruited him to run and threw money and political weight behind him. Myers specifically called out Turning Point Action, which endorsed Heap over the incumbents.

“Let’s just say that you took out one of the most conservative Republic[an] utility regulators in favor of someone that has no experience and no money to run his campaign,” Myers wrote in a post on X. “You literally handed [the] seat over to a Dem.”

Arizona Freedom Caucus leader Sen. Jake Hoffman and the Arizona Free Enterprise Club recruited Heap to run against the incumbents after they defended Arizona Public Service’s closure of the coal-fired Cholla Power Plant. The conservative groups and their leaders argued Myers and Thompson were not supportive enough of President Donald Trump’s energy agenda, jeopardizing a potential revival of Arizona’s coal industry.

Turning Point Action gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Keep Arizona Free political action committee, which in turn poured nearly $10,000 into independent expenditures bolstering Heap and attacking Myers, according to campaign finance reports.

“I’m so tired of the [T]urning [P]oint gaslighting and other nonsense,” Myers continued on X. “The only reason you guys were after me and Kevin is because we weren’t your puppets and we are working for the people.” 

However, Turning Point did not funnel money into attacks against Thompson, signaling the conservative group saw Myers as the weakest link of the two.

Longtime commission observers said Myers’ post-primary social media reaction demonstrates one factor that made him an easy target for a challenger like Heap. Myers, the commission’s current chair, has frequently landed himself in hot water for his statements online and in commission hearings. 

In 2025, Myers received a wave of backlash after he got into an online spat with the son of an APS customer who died after her electric service was disconnected for nonpayment of bills. 

Myers accused the woman’s sons of failing to protect her and argued that power should be cut off for customers who do not pay their bills, even when extreme temperatures could make those shutoffs fatal. 

He has also developed a reputation among commission stakeholders for delivering tongue lashings from the dais. During a heated 2024 hearing on the commission’s adoption of a formula rate policy statement, Myers suggested that stakeholders who objected to the last-minute approval of the policy were “simply not very good at their jobs.” 

“He’s just been very outspoken in a way that may not have been helpful in this situation,” said Autumn Johnson, a lobbyist and attorney who specializes in solar energy issues at the commission. “He has a tendency to say things in open meetings that sometimes get picked up by the media.”

Stan Barnes, a longtime Republican political consultant, said he believes Heap had more name recognition than the incumbents bargained for.

“He’s not someone out of the phone book. He is a state representative with his own built-in network and name identification,” Barnes said. “So that made him a good candidate in a condensed Republican primary, where their turnout was record low.”

Heap does not come without baggage of his own, however. The freshman state lawmaker is unable to access campaign funding from the Citizens Clean Elections Commission because of an ongoing investigation into a complaint alleging he did not properly disclose his spending on political signs. 

Heap’s attorney, Tim La Sota, filed a response to Clean Elections on Tuesday, saying he is still reviewing the matter and is “unable to concede the allegations in the complaint letter.” Heap did not respond to an interview request for this story. 

The mismatched duo of Thompson and Heap will face Democrats Clara Pratte and Jonathon Hill in November as they attempt to maintain the all-Republican majority on the commission. Myers is already urging voters against casting a ballot for Heap, instead suggesting they “single-shot” Thompson. 

It is unclear whether Thompson will embrace Heap as a general-election running mate, considering he and Myers became close friends over the course of their 2022 campaign and their nearly four years serving together on the commission. Neither Thompson nor Myers responded to interview requests for this story.

Some consultants say Pratte and Hill could gain an advantage if the GOP candidates can’t shake off the bruising from the primary.

“A lot of the moderates and the independents aren’t going to show up until the general, and I think for the most part, they’re not feeling warm and fuzzy about where things are politically or economically, and that tends to not be good for incumbents and the party in power,” Johnson said. “Certainly, I think the odds are better for Democrats in this general [election] than they were [in 2024].”

Barnes disagreed, arguing that cooler heads will prevail once the dust settles a bit more, allowing Thompson and Heap to work together.

“Commissioner Thompson is a class act who is a responsible political guy and so is Representative Heap, and I think they will shake hands and move forward because it’s in their best interest,” Barnes said.

Either way, Republicans can take comfort in the fact that the commission will remain controlled by the GOP even if Democrats manage to flip both seats in November.