Arizonans in the 6th Congressional District—covering Tucson, Eloy, Sierra Vista, and more—will have the chance to help decide control of the US House this November in a race the Cook Political Report deems a “toss-up.” Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a US Marine Corps and Navy veteran, says families there are feeling the economic strain every day. If she unseats US Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Tucson), she says she’ll start with the economy.
To lower costs, Mendoza said Congress needs to check on President Donald Trump, starting with reversing tariffs that she said have led to economic uncertainty and job losses in the district. The tariffs, which the president began imposing in April 2025, have raised costs for consumers. The US Supreme Court struck down many of them in February. Trump replaced them with a temporary global tariff that expired in July, but other tariffs, including those on steel and aluminum, remain in place. Trump has argued foreign countries pay the price; many economists say the costs shift onto consumers instead.
“I wouldn’t do what Ciscomani is doing,” Mendoza said. “He’s not pushing back on this administration.”
Ciscomani, who’s represented the district since 2023, has voted with Trump 100% of the time in his second term, according to a scorecard from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a left leaning thinktank. In February, six House Republicans broke ranks to vote for a resolution ending Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Ciscomani wasn’t one of them. At their Sept. 10 debate, Mendoza said Ciscomani had voted for tariffs nine times.
Mendoza said the tariffs have strained the US relationship with Mexico, a prominent trading partner, and hurt the housing market by driving up material costs and slowing construction. She added that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have stirred fear in the district, where approximately 1 in 3 residents are Latino, and in communities where cross-border employment is common, leading to less construction labor to actually build homes.
“You can’t build homes if things are too expensive and if the tariffs are creating that,” Mendoza said. “If you don’t have the construction labor to build those homes, which right now we’re seeing being impacted because of rogue ICE agents, that is going to impact it.”.
Mendoza also pointed to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed in July 2025 with support from Arizona’s Republican House delegation. Since then, Arizona has seen the steepest drop in SNAP enrollment in the nation, down 52%, according to Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. In Pima County, more than 77,000 people have lost benefits, including single mom Angelica Garcia, who confronted Ciscomani at the nation’s capital.
“He was dismissive,” Garcia said in a September interview with the Copper Courier. “That just goes to show that he’s not for the people. He’s out of touch. He doesn’t realize, or maybe he does realize, how it’s affecting thousands and thousands of people.”
The law could strip as many as 246,000 Arizonans of Medicaid coverage once its work requirements take effect in 2027. The law also ended the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicle buyers. As EV sales slumped, Lucid Motors laid off about 700 workers at its Casa Grande factory in June.
How will Mendoza address rising costs?
Mendoza said she’d work with members of both parties to restore funding for SNAP and Medicaid.
She also pointed to Ciscomani’s shifting position on the bill. He wrote a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson raising concerns about Medicaid cuts, then voted for the law, which is projected to cut more than $1 trillion from Medicaid, SNAP, and other safety-net programs over the next decade.
“He voted for HR 1, and we’re seeing costs rise,” Mendoza said. “I’m not running to uphold the Democratic Party’s agenda. I’m running to make sure that people in this district have elected leadership that really does care about them and is going to do everything in their power to make sure they get the things they need to provide for their families.”
Mendoza also said she’d work with both parties to restore the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies that expired at the end of 2025, leading to an average premium jump of nearly 30%. Without them, KFF projected the average marketplace enrollee’s annual premium payments would roughly double this year, from $888 to $1,904. Ciscomani, who had backed a one-year extension, voted against a three-year extension that passed the House in January, saying his support for a temporary extension “must be accompanied by real common-sense reforms.”
“Whatever is going to allow us to bring people immediate relief,” Mendoza said. “That’s going to really include having to work across the aisle, having to talk to Republicans who understand that their constituents need healthcare, to be able to feed their families.”
Mendoza also pointed to the Iran war, which began in February. The military conflict—widely opposed by Americans—has driven up costs for local families including at the pump and at the register. Arizonans are paying $4.70 for a gallon of gas, compared with $3.52 a year earlier.
Ciscomani has voted with his party against numerous resolutions to limit Trump’s war powers and has voiced support for the war.
“This is something that the whole world talked about needed to be done, for generations and for decades. And no one ever did anything about it, and now President Trump took the action,” Ciscomani said in May.
Mendoza arguesTrump had no plan and that the fallout is hitting the district.
“This administration promised no more forever wars,” Mendoza said. “There’s no plan. There’s no idea of when this thing is going to end.”
“We need to make sure that people can afford to fill up their tanks so that they can go to work, to doctor’s appointments, and pick up their kids from school,” Mendoza said. “But there’s also a human element. I’ve spoken to parents who are terrified their kids are going to come back in flag-draped coffins.”
What would Mendoza do for local jobs?
Growing up in Eloy as the daughter of farmworkers, Mendoza lived in communities that depended on rural jobs to stay afloat. She wants to expand apprenticeships, technical education, and other job training in the district as alternatives to a four-year degree, and to strengthen local unions to protect workers and raise pay.
Mendoza said Congress should raise the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Arizona’s minimum wage is $15.15 an hour, and Tucson’s is $15.45. According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, a single adult with no children in Arizona needs to earn about $25 an hour to cover basic living costs.
Mendoza said changes to the tax code would help including making sure America’s richest are “paying their fair share.” Ciscomani, who voted for the 2025 tax law, praised the legislation that critics say will raise taxes on the poorest 40% of Americans while cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans.
She also wants businesses in the district to hire locally. The 6th District, home to farm towns and a large defense industry, needs engineers, farmworkers, and health care workers, she said.
The issue, Mendoza said, is that some companies hire locally, then lay off workers and bring in replacements from out of state, though she didn’t name specific companies. Companies operating in the district should provide a public benefit, including jobs for residents, she said.
“They should only hire local, and if we don’t have the workforce, then they need to put up front the funding to make sure that we’re getting people trained to fill those positions,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza and Ciscomani face off Nov. 3. Early voting begins Oct. 7.
