Democrats are looking to broaden their voter appeal by recruiting unconventional candidates and changing their image.
One example of the recent outreach is JoAnna Mendoza, a veteran with 20 years of military service and a former Marine Corps drill instructor with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Democrats think she is someone who can relate to the working poor and genuine middle class as both a single mother and the daughter of a farmworker family.
“We’re seeing right now a lot of interest from people all over the country in stepping up for their country to run for office,” Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., told Politico recently.
Mendoza is hoping to take out one of the most vulnerable Republicans in the 2026 congressional midterms: Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz.
Ciscomani represents Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, a swing district if there ever…
