“There’s a large amount of Republicans who just decided not to vote at all and that was a protest vote and that’s because there was no candidate on the ballot that would make them come out and vote,” Swoboda said in a video shared by 12 News.
“Turning Point Action never has and never will function the way that they intend it to and the donors should stop giving money to an organization that is going to fund our destruction as a party,” she continued.
Swoboda lost the Republican primary for Arizona Secretary of State in July to Alexander Kolodin, the Turning Point-backed candidate. Kolodin lost on Tuesday to the Democratic incumbent.
Turning Point’s losses
Amongst the other losers of Tuesday’s election was GOP Rep. Andy Biggs who ran for Arizona Governor. Biggs was the last candidate Charlie Kirk, Turning Points’ founder, personally endorsed before he was shot and killed in September 2025.
The organization spent $18 million dollars on Biggs’ election campaign alone — but it wasn’t enough for him to beat incumbent Katie Hobbs. According to Politico, Turning Point faced immense criticism from Republicans for delaying its spending until just weeks before ballots were sent out.
Arizona wasn’t alone in its losses. Turning Point’s political efforts focused on building a “Red Wall,” by targeting voters and candidates in Arizona, Nevada and New Hampshire. An analysis from The Arizona Republic found that only one Turning Point-backed candidate won a major statewide race in those three states.
Turning Point isn’t taking responsibility for these losses, instead echoing Vice President JD Vance and blaming the war in Iran.
“There’s a collection of reasons but the one real reason has to do with the war,” Andrew Kolvet, executive producer of ‘The Charlie Kirk Show,’ said in a Nov. 4 episode. “The perception within the voter electorate of what that did to the economy, what that did to affordability, what that did to gas prices…”
Swoboda however, said the organization is responsible.
“So I don’t think it’s rocket science to say: when they’re involved and they pick the candidates, we lose; when they’re not involved and we go out there and listen to voters, another novel concept, then we win,” she said in an interview with KJZZ.
