A Democrat running for Congress in one of the most competitive seats in the country once said she would combat systematic racism by redirecting law enforcement funding when asked if she would “defund the police” in 2020.
“I support the reallocation of funding to programs that would allow people to live their best lives,” JoAnna Mendoza, a Marine veteran, told the Arizona Clean Elections Commission and Arizona Capitol Times at a town hall event.
“Such as social service programs. Such as housing, public education, healthcare, ensuring that we are addressing economic stability and environmental safety.”
Mendoza, who is running to represent Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, denied ever supporting defunding the police, according to her campaign.
“Jo Mendoza has been on the record for years that police need MORE resources to do their jobs – not less – including body cameras and training. And she has repeatedly stated that she does not support defunding the police,” Mendoza’s campaign said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Any other assertion is categorically false, a lie and a political smear from D.C. hacks hoping to save Juan Ciscomani from an early retirement,” the campaign said, referring to the GOP incumbent Mendoza is running against.
Mendoza did not clarify what she had meant by the 2020 statement. However, her campaign pointed to other comments she made in 2020.
“I do not support defunding the police. Police officers are being asked to do too much. They’re being asked to address issues because of the lack of resources in our communities,” Mendoza said in another virtual event that year.
The Republican National Committee slammed Mendoza in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“There’s no way for JoAnna Mendoza to spin her extreme anti-police views, and Arizonans will know that she sides with dangerous criminals over them,” Nick Poche, a spokesperson for the RNC, told Fox News Digital.
The “defund the police” platform, which at the time was championed by several progressive Democrats, has aged poorly, leading Republicans and Democrats to view mere mentions of the phrase as a political liability in 2026.
The movement first burst onto the scene through the outrage after the death of George Floyd, a Black Minnesota resident who died after a police arrest in which an officer pinned him to the ground by placing a knee on his neck for an extended period.
His death sparked an uproar in cities across the country over racism in law enforcement and whether police in America could do more to avoid violence during arrests.
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Although the outrage over Floyd eventually subsided, many of the calls to divert resources away from police persisted as a Democratic platform, leading some cities like Minneapolis and Austin, Texas, to reduce their police budgets.
However, the movement began to draw ire from Democrats who feared the party had taken a stance that could be considered at odds with community safety and worsen their odds at the ballot box.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., the House Majority Whip under U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in 2021, said the phrase was “cutting the throats of the party.”
“We keep making that mistake. This foolishness about you got to be this progressive or that progressive,” Clyburn said.
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Other Democratic strategists, such as James Carville, have also condemned the platform.
Carville called the slogan “the three stupidest words in the English language” in interviews in 2024 and went as far as suggesting the slogan could have led to the loss of Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid against Donald Trump.
“We could never wash off the stench of it,” Carville added.
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Mendoza faces a tough race in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District. Ciscomani, the seat’s current incumbent, narrowly won election in 2024 in a 50%-47.5% victory over Democrat challenger Kirsten Engel.
The district is listed among the Cook Political Report’s most competitive races in 2026, earning one of the 18 seats with a “toss-up” designation.
Poche believes Mendoza’s previous comments have just made her bid against Ciscomani harder.
“If the Democrats think a defund-the-police radical can beat him, they’re just plain stupid,” Poche said.
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