Democrat JoAnna Mendoza undertook a sweeping purge of her online social media accounts before launching her campaign for a key Arizona U.S. House district, removing a number of posts related to policing, LGBTQ+ equality, systemic racism and other topics.
Archived internet records show how Mendoza has shifted her messaging since she ran for the Arizona Senate in 2020, when COVID-19 pandemic-era progressivism was reaching a peak.
Mendoza, a Marine Corps veteran and former political operative seeking to unseat incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, spoke out against racism in several of the deleted posts, as protests over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer were roiling the nation.
In one post, she criticized a political
cartoon posted by her then-campaign rival, state Sen. Vince Leach, that mocked calls to defund the police. Mendoza linked to a webpage where she told a local blog: "Police reform and reallocation of funding to public education, healthcare, and other public service programs are long overdue."
“Militarizing our police has taken the form of an occupying army which has resulted in aggressive policing & needless death," she wrote in another deleted post from Jun. 19, 2020.
In another deleted post, she recommended an educational webpage from an activist group, "For those folks who don’t believe that #systemicracism is a problem in our nation!”
Mendoza's position on the issue of policing hasn't changed, even if her tone has. She said during a 2020 candidate forum that she did not want to defund the police, that she supports reforms such as deadly force investigations, the use of body cameras and de-escalation training for police officers. Officers "are being asked to do too much" because of "the lack of resources in our community," she said.
"I do not support defunding the police," she said at the 2020 forum. "I support ensuring that they have the resources. But there also needs to be some accountability."
During a September debate, Mendoza called Ciscomani "dishonest" for saying she "has a record of being endorsed by defund the police," but she dropped the mentions of police reform that had featured in her response six years prior.
Mendoza's campaign did not return The Arizona Republic's requests for comment.
Revising social media and website presences is not uncommon for political campaigns, as candidates gear themselves towards different audiences. Incumbent Rep. Eli Crane recently scrubbed references to "forever wars" and spending pledges from his campaign website, as the conflict in Iran and the nation's deficit proves unpopular among many voters, the Arizona Mirror has reported.
Mendoza is running in Southern Arizona's 6th Congressional District. It's one of the most competitive U.S. House seats in the country and has already drawn millions of dollars in political spending, much of it devoted to attack ads.
The evolution in Mendoza's rhetoric reflects wider changes in Democrats' talking points, as the pandemic-era politics gradually gave way to widespread skepticism and repudiation of left-wing identity politics. The term "racism," once a frequent focus for Mendoza, hasn't appeared in her X posts since she launched her campaign in early 2025.
In October 2020, she boosted a post from @VoteMamaUS: “RT if you’ve also had to tell a privileged cis man, ‘I’m speaking.’” The post has since disappeared from her timeline.
Others from the same time period remain online, such as a repost from May 11, 2020, criticizing the "Obamagate" conspiracy theory.
Several of the deleted posts centered around LGBTQ+ issues.
In one of them, she praised a proposal to let drivers identify themselves as “nonbinary” on Arizona driver’s licenses.
“This is long overdue," Mendoza wrote Jan. 2, 2020. "#InclusionMatters."
In another deleted post, she marked the anniversary of the World Health Organization declassifying homosexuality as a mental disorder. Mendoza, who identifies as bisexual, told her followers: “Let’s take a stand against homophobia, biphobia, & transphobia!"
She's continued to post on the topic since she launched her campaign, celebrating the anniversary of the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," promoting a documentary about the 1969 Stonewall uprising, and promoting her endorsement by a group supporting LGBTQ+ women.
The election is Nov. 3, 2026. Early voting begins Oct. 7.
Laura Gersony covers politics for The Arizona Republic. Contact her at Laura.Gersony@usatodayco.com or 480.372.0389.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: JoAnna Mendoza purged social media before AZ congressional campaign
