“America is in some serious trouble,” warns JoAnna Mendoza, the former Marine drill instructor who’s now running to oust Republican Juan Ciscomani from his 6th Congressional District seat.
“We need servant leaders today,” she tells the Copper Courier. “A new generation of patriots who are going to put people first. Who are going to put our country first and put politics aside. And who are going to move this country forward.”
Mendoza, a single mother of a 10-year-old, decided to run for Congress to address the issues of her neighbors.
“They’re one paycheck away from eviction,” she says, noting that hamburger meat in her hometown of Eloy is $12 a pound, forcing some people to ask for credit at the local grocery store.
“But now, with the war in Iran and the rising cost of gas,” she says people are telling her “that things just feel unbearable.”
Meanwhile, when President Donald Trump was threatening Iran with destruction of its entire civilization, current Rep. Ciscomani was in Scotland taking photos at Edinburgh Castle with other Republican House members during a two-week recess of Congress.
Ciscomani is particularly known for not having held a town hall in the district since he was elected in 2022. Mendoza says the people of the district are tired of such disrespect.
“This district has very strong military families and veterans and it’s just mind-blowing that our elected representative is off doing something else when there is so much suffering, anxiety, and stress,” says Mendoza, who spent 20 years in the military after enlisting when she was just 17.
Now, her son Aiden, 10, was a key motivation for her to step out and run for Congress.
“It scares me when I think about my son. What opportunity is he going to have? Is he going to have freedom? Will he be able to vote? And it’s not just for my kid, but for all kids,” she says.
“Ciscomani votes 100% with Trump,” she points out, including his support of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which will cut Medicaid for 300,000 Arizonans.
The bill has also terminated SNAP benefits for more than 400,000 Arizonans, including 180,000 children, accounting for nearly half of Arizona’s SNAP recipients.
“Ciscomani said he would protect Medicaid and SNAP benefits and then he turned around and voted against the very thing he said he would protect. That kind of action is egregious,” Mendoza says.
She’s a native rural Arizonan
“I grew up in a farmworker family in a rural, impoverished area of Pinal County. My hometown was Eloy. I saw how hard my parents worked, but my family still couldn’t make ends meet,” Mendoza says.
“We found ourselves on government assistance programs that are now being cut under the guise of fraud. We were on Medicaid and used food stamps. SNAP provides an opportunity for families to buy groceries and feed their kids. We weren’t asking for a handout but a hand up.”
Why she joined the military
“There were no jobs. For kids like me who grew up with no economic opportunity, the only option is to join the military to lift you out of poverty.”
“I have lifted myself up by my bootstraps. I joined the Navy and after a couple of years, I left the service honorably and came home to Eloy, but there still weren’t any jobs, so I joined the Marine Corps.
“I stayed for the privilege of making the next generation of Marines.”
How, as a veteran, she views the Iran war
“There are a lot of us who are not happy about how this administration, specifically the president, has taken on the decision-making in this war. He really should have gone through Congress to determine what his strategic objective was, to analyze the imminent threat, and we haven’t been seeing that.”
“Can you imagine having a son or daughter or spouse deployed to Iran now and there is no strategy, no plan? The amount of stress these families are under right now….
“It sends a message that our sons and daughters are disposable and expendable.”
How, as a drill instructor, she views the war’s objectives
“As a drill instructor, I take it personally, because every Marine that I made or that I led was like a child to me, was my kid. Because I was responsible as that person in charge to take care of my troops. And we’re not seeing that type of leadership out of Washington or Sec. (Pete) Hegseth.
“When you are deployed with someone, you have a team. You don’t look around and say, ‘Are you a Republican, are you a Democrat or an Independent?’ We say, ‘Do you share our values—Honor, Courage and Commitment? Will you have my back and are you competent?’ Those are the things that make for a strong team.
“What Sec. Hegseth is doing right now within the military is creating division, uncertainty and instability. That’s going to lead to chaos, could impact the mission, and could result in not seeing every enlisted member come home.
“You know, America is tired of seeing our sons and daughters come back in flag-draped coffins. We did that for 20 years in the Middle East and for what?”
‘I believe in keeping the border secure’
“One hundred percent, the border must be secure. I served 20 years in the military, and national security is a top priority.
“This is a border district. We share 80 miles of border with Mexico. But the tactics of how ICE is doing this are not making anybody feel safer.
“Rounding up people, including veterans, moms, and US citizens, is not in keeping with what this administration said it would do—target scary, horrible criminals. Unfortunately, we have not seen that.
“We’re just asking ICE to do their job but by following the rule of law and the Constitution.”
Constituents fear being detained by ICE
“What we’ve seen happen in Minnesota and in other parts of the nation, snatching people off the streets and fatalities with Renée Good and Alex Pretti, all of these actions and tragic events make all of us in our community extremely fearful.
“People aren’t going out as much. They’re staying home and avoiding crowds. They don’t want to be part of those mass roundups and be hauled away. It’s a terrifying way to live.
“I am a woman of color. I drive my kid to school every morning and pick him up. Even I find myself thinking, oh gosh, what if I get pulled over and detained just because I am a Mexican-American woman?
“There needs to be accountability and oversight of ICE and reforms for how their operations are being rolled out.”
‘I want to fight corruption and get our money back’
If elected, “I want to claw back money for jobs. There were thousands of clean energy jobs that were supposed to come to Southern Arizona. That money was appropriated in the Inflation Reduction Act.
If Democrats get a majority in the House of Representatives in the midterms, the first way to help constituents “is to have oversight and accountability of this administration, where we’ve seen billions poured into an ICE slush fund with no safety requirements demanded by Democrats, like no masks and required body cameras.
“We need to make sure that money isn’t being mishandled, or find out if there’s corruption there.
“Kristi Noem spent $200 million on a commercial that made her look like she was trying to bring back the Marlboro Man commercials. Was that necessary?”
I will be accessible to my constituents
“I’m thinking of doing ‘Congress in Your Community’ events so every day people can see who’s representing them, and I can interact with them.
“Juan Ciscomani is still refusing to meet with constituents in the district. There have been protesters out there for months now because people just can’t seem to get ahold of him.
“He refused to take the fight to his party bosses. Our representative in Congress isn’t taking the fight that we want him to take to lower costs.
“I will advocate for lowering costs, ensuring people can pay their utility bills and have access to the services they need.”
Being a Marine has prepared me to go to Congress
“As a Marine and a veteran, I’m action-oriented. What we’re seeing right now is a wave of veterans stepping up to run for elected office because we believe in this country.
“We’re trained in the Marine Corps to do what needs to be done, do what’s right. Not only when it’s easy but when it’s not easy. I have that lived experience but also an understanding that we have to save our democracy and uphold the rule of law.
“We have to work together as a team, even with people we don’t necessarily agree with 100% of the time.
“When you take the oath of service to protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic, that commitment doesn’t end when the uniform comes off. It’s a lifelong commitment.”.
