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Jo Mendoza Checks In From Arizona

Indivisible's Ezra Levin joins Hopium live tomorrow at 2pm EDT to preview the upcoming No Kings events on March 28th. Join us! Going to be a good one.

Simon Rosenberg

Mar 9

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Greetings all. I got to welcome back one of our top House candidates this afternoon, Jo Mendoza, who is running in the Sixth District of Arizona in the Tuscon area. A recording of our interview and a transcript are above, and a reminder that you can find this discussion and all of our discussions on the Hopium site under the Podcast tab and on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify too.

Jo is challenging incumbent Rep. Juan Ciscomani, who only won the district by 1.7 points in 2024, 49.6% to 47.9% in what was a good year for Republicans in Arizona. With the national battleground moving between 7 and 10 points to the Democrats this cycle AZ-6 is one of those districts we have a very high likelihood of flipping in November.

As a marine, and someone with twenty years of service in our armed forces including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Jo had a lot to say about Trump's new war, it’s illegality, and the recklessness and lack of preparation we’ve seen. It’s a fresh perspective on the war from a candidate on the ground in a district with 60,000 veterans. Well worth watching if you can.

Jo was one of the first four candidates in our Winning The House campaign, and is considered one of our top recruits this cycle. Here’s some of what she told us:

We were most recently designated Red to Blue. If you're not familiar with the program, it is a designation that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee selects. Certain races, and out of the hundreds of congressional candidates running across the nation in this election cycle, we were on that first list of endorsement rounds. So it'll come with some additional support and, of course, resources. But it really signifies that our campaign has done all of the things that need to be done in order to be in a great position to flip the seat in November. And we've been campaigning for a year now. So we're kind of we're in flow. You know, we've got our routine down. And I am so glad that we started early because had we started later than we did, or in the fall of last year, I feel like we would be fumbling around to get into some type of flow and rhythm and consistency on the campaign.

With your support we’ve raised more than $45,000 for Jo so far this cycle, and are proud to be on her team! You can donate to our twelve candidates in our Winning The House campaign with one click, or give to Jo Mendoza directly. You can learn more or volunteer on her website.

Here’s a rough map of her district:

This is the first of a big wave of interviews we will be doing with our endorsed candidates in the coming weeks. Later this week we will hear from Paige Cognetti and Mary Peltola, with even more coming soon.

Note that tomorrow I will be hosting Indivisible’s Ezra Levin at 2pm EDT. Click here to join us live. Will be a good one!

Keep working hard everyone. The big, addled guys’ knees buckled this afternoon - more on that tomorrow! Simon

Bio - JoAnna Mendoza, Candidate for Arizona 6

JoAnna Mendoza, or “Jo” as she is known to friends and family, embodies the spirit of Arizona Tough. Raised in a farmworker family in Pinal County, JoAnna experienced firsthand the realities of rural poverty and the power of community. Those early lessons set her on a lifelong path of service and action.

At just 17, Jo answered the call to serve, enlisting in the U.S. Navy before joining the U.S. Marine Corps. Her 20-year military career was defined by leadership, sacrifice, and service, marked by her role as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and leading the next generation of Marines. Jo stood on the frontlines for our country; now she’s ready to stand up for Southern Arizona.