Arizona's CD6 candidates debate the country's direction under the second Trump administration

Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and Democrat Joanna Mendoza sparred over the direction of the country under the second Trump administration as they made their pitch to voters in Arizona’s Congressional District 6, one of just a few competitive districts that could determine which party controls Congress next year.

Ciscomani was first elected in 2022 to represent the district, which covers parts of Tucson, its suburbs and large swaths of rural southern Arizona.

Mendoza, a veteran who grew up in a farmworker family, criticized Ciscomani for supporting President Donald Trump’s policies like the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill," or HR 1, and tariffs, which she blamed for contributing to rising cost of living in the district and across the country .

Mendoza also said reforms and work requirements included in Trump’s bill have undercut social programs, such as Medicaid and SNAP food assistance, that many rural Arizonans rely on.

“My parents worked really hard, and we still found ourselves on government assistance programs like food stamps, like AHCCCS,” she said. “And I will tell you that without any of those, I wouldn't have been able to grow up healthy to serve my country for 20 years.”

But Ciscomani pointed to other parts of HR 1 that he said makes life better for his constituents.

“When you let people keep their taxes on tips and on overtime, and you extend the child tax credit, and you give small businesses incentives to expand and invest in their businesses, all these things help,” Ciscomani said.

He also defended SNAP and Medicaid reforms, such as increased work and reporting requirements. He said they were designed to eliminate fraud and ensure the programs remain viable for families that really need it.

“We want to make sure that we protect that safety net for the people that that was meant to do. There's a lot of fraud out there,” he said.

He made the comments as around half a million Arizonans have lost SNAP food assistance benefits as the state Department of Economic Security implements those new requirements, an enrollment drop that outpaces other states across the country.

And reporting by KJZZ shows that the agency is struggling to process the hundreds of thousands of applications it is receiving to comply with those rules. Data from the agency shows it has dropped more than 3 million calls from applicants over the last 18 months, suggesting the drops in enrollment are being driven by new bureaucratic hurdles rather than fraud identified by the new reforms.

Mendoza said she supported reversing the changes to SNAP and Medicaid.

“And so, for me, the cuts that my opponent voted for in HR 1 actually has increased costs for a lot of folks.”

During a speech this week, Trump introduced an idea that could offset some of those costs when he promised a $5,000 dividend to every American — but only if Republicans win in November.

“Any kind of proposal or any idea out there that puts more money in Americans' pockets versus the government keeping that, I'm always going to be open to see how we can make that happen,” Ciscomani said when asked about the idea.

But he cautioned that he still needs to hear more about the specifics of the plan and acknowledged it could exacerbate inflationary pressures and the rising national debt if not implemented properly.

“If we are not able to afford that, then I don't think we can move forward with a plan like that. But I'm looking forward to seeing the plan and the proposal by the president and how this would work,” Ciscomani said.

Trump has a history of failing to follow through on promises to send checks to Americans, and Mendoza said she didn’t support this latest promise by the president.

“Them taking taxpayer dollars, hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and then turning around, lining their own pockets, and then trying to give that back to citizens? I mean, it's absolutely egregious,” she said. "We’ve never seen anything like this in our government.”

Rural healthcare

Mendoza and Ciscomani also disagreed on the effects HR 1 has had on access to healthcare in rural communities.

Mendoza pointed to the effects Medicaid cuts will have on rural hospitals, which are projected to lose $1.2 billion over 10 years. In southern Arizona, hospitals could lose $110 million every year, the Arizona Mirror reported.

She said that could lead to cuts in services that will force rural residents to drive hours for critical care.

“We're talking about putting people in dangerous situations that could eventually cost them their lives,” she said.

And she pointed out that Ciscomani himself expressed concerns about the effect Medicaid cuts would have on vulnerable populations.

But Ciscomani said he did fight for those vulnerable populations, saying he pushed back against even steeper Medicaid cuts backed by the White House included in earlier versions of HR 1.

Ultimately, those deeper cuts did not make it into the final bill.

“Had we done the FMAP changes that were proposed initially on this bill, then the entire expansion population of Medicaid would have been off the books,” Ciscomani said. “That would have been devastating for the state.”

And he said he fought for the inclusion of a $50 billion rural hospital fund in the bill to offset Medicaid cuts.

Arizona ultimately received $167 million from the first tranche of that funding, $33 million less than the state requested.

Iran

Ciscomani provided less push back on another controversial part of Trump’s agenda: the war in Iran.

“When we look at this conflict, we have to look at the reason that we went there,” he said. “Everybody hoped and thought that this was going to be done a lot quicker. Now we have to continue to make sure that the mission gets complete.”

In fact, the congressman defended the president’s decision to initiate the conflict, which has stagnated and led to rising gas prices as Iran disrupts trade and oil transports through the Strait of Hormuz.

“We have a situation where Iran cannot have nuclear weapons,” he said. “We know that every president before this president has uttered those words, and nobody had done anything about that.”

Mendoza, a veteran, said the Trump administration entered the war with no plan, no clear goals and no exit strategy. She says that is putting service members in danger, and Congress hasn’t done enough to mitigate that risk.

“Parents don't want to see their kids come back in flag-draped coffins. I don’t,” she said. “I've been deployed to the Middle East, and I've lost friends. So I would say that you know, talk is cheap, and my opponent needs to put his money where his mouth is.”

Ciscomani argued the administration accomplished the first part of its plan, which included removing the former Iranian regime.