Right, like you can't end the war in Iran unilaterally, right? And that is driving up costs.

It is driving up costs, but people only talk about the cost portion of it.

There's a human cost, Mary.

I mean, you have service members who are being treated just horribly.

I mean, you have service members who are trying to jump off the ship and commit suicide because they can't take...

The living conditions that they're in, they're not getting the rations and food that they need.

They don't have the resources they need to be successful in a war that this administration and my opponent have supported and said that there would be no more forever wars.

Tell me how you would address the war in Iran should you go to Washington.

Right, like you can't end the war in Iran unilaterally, right? And that is driving up costs.

It is driving up costs, but people only talk about the cost portion of it.

There's a human cost, Mary.

I mean, you have service members who are being treated just horribly.

I mean, you have service members who are trying to jump off the ship and commit suicide because they can't take...

The living conditions that they're in, they're not getting the rations and food that they need.

They don't have the resources they need to be successful in a war that this administration and my opponent have supported and said that there would be no more forever wars.

Tell me how you would address the war in Iran should you go to Washington.

435 435 yeah yeah um in the in congress it just in the house so you can't get anything done on day one but what would be your focus day one if you're elected to the sixth congressional district

Yeah, this is where I'm a little different.

You know, candidates are always asked, you know, what's your agenda? What do you want to prioritize? And the way that I look at it is what are the needs of the district? What are the people of this district telling me that they need right now? They're saying they need relief.

They need money in their pocket so they can pay for groceries, medication, rent, all of the things that they need to survive.

And I, you know, as we've been touring the district, we've been campaigning for about 20 months now.

So it's been a long journey here, but we wanted to make sure we had an early start so that we could really get around and talk to the people in the district.

And, you know, a lot of times I get comments like, you know, you're one of the only Democrats or the only people that come out here.

How does one in Congress go about lowering costs besides passing legislation to maybe increase Medicaid, help people with their health care costs? I mean, when you're talking about putting money in people's pockets, are you talking about literal income subsidies or?

... situation?

Well, I mean, you're absolutely right.

Let me start by saying that, you know, uh, you mentioned that I grew up in rural poverty in a small rural farming community called Eloy in Pinal County.

And, you know, my parents worked really hard.

They were farm workers.

Uh, I consider myself a proud daughter of farm workers, and we relied on those programs a lot growing up.

And so, you know, when you'd go to the grocery store and you used food stamps, people knew that when you used the Funny Money that you ha- you did not have any.

Does that make up for any of the reductions created by the Trump administration's push for less spending?

¿Cómo es que esa experiencia moldea hoy la forma en que piensas sobre los temas que importan en la agenda en Estados Unidos, pero específicamente en Arizona?

Sí, bueno, primero que nada, gracias por la oportunidad.

Mis padres eran trabajadores agrícolas y vi a una edad temprana la injusticia en cuanto a que ellos pudieran costear el mantenernos a nosotros, sus hijos.

Ya sabes, trabajaban muy duro en los campos y no les alcanzaba para llegar a fin de mes.

Y yo solía ir allá cada verano.

Como estoy segura de que sabes, hay muchos niños, especialmente trabajadores agrícolas, que trabajan en los campos, con sus padres o junto a ellos.

Y yo hice eso durante muchos veranos.

¿Fue un error la guerra en Irán, Johanna?

Are you seeing that changing? Could that be like a Democratic bloc?

I think that you have a lot of veterans who are answering the call to serve right now.

There's roughly about 95 female veterans who are running across the nation for various offices.

And you see a large number of veterans just running in general.

But for me, it's not about left or right.

It's not about red or blue.

It is about the red, white, and blue.

What are your thoughts on agriculture in Arizona and the water usage, especially as we move into things like data centers and other things that are going to complicate that limited water use?

... and you, you live it and lived it your whole life, h- how is Trump's immigration policy being ineffective on the border, and what, what do you w- would like to see to have a more effective immigration policy in this country?

Yeah, well, I mean, we know we've seen ICE and their operations like we saw in, uh, Minneapolis.

Here, there have been a couple of ICE raids, and people are really concerned.

I mean, the whole, the whole reasoning for, uh, additional funding for ICE was to catch these criminals and send them packing, and we're not seeing that.

This administration, ICE's, ICE agents are rounding up veterans, they're rounding up teachers, they're rounding up moms, they're rounding up people who have been pillars in the community.

And so what we're seeing right now, especially in the Hispanic community, this district's about 25% Hispanic, is that they're like, "This is not what, what we want." And I will tell you, James, as someone who...

I mean, I'm a Brown woman.

... how would he do today if he were on the ballot?

This past week, Joanna Mendoza released her first campaign ad.

[gentle music] What we're seeing right now is complete chaos.

People say, "You're crazy for jumping in to, to run for Congress.

Why would you do that right now?" I said, "Because that's exactly what I was trained to do in the Marine Corps." In the Marine Corps, we have a saying: "Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way." We need someone to fight the insurance companies and take on corporate greed so families don't have to.

We need healthcare and childcare that doesn't cost so much.

People need opportunity, especially in rural towns like Eloy.

I believe that the people of this district deserve better, and my son and all children deserve better.

Tell us a little bit more about your background and what made you want to run for Congress.