Juan Mendez (politician)

Juan Jose Mendez (born May 18, 1985) is an American politician and State Senator from Arizona. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Education
Born and raised in Arizona, Mendez attended Tolleson Union High School and received an associate degree from Phoenix College. He later received a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University, majoring in political science.

Career
Mendez was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2012. He served on the Insurance and Retirement Committee and the Reform and Human Services Committee.

Mendez supports closing "tax loopholes" for out-of-state corporations, raising education funding, and more restrictions on gifts to legislators. He opposes Arizona SB 1070 and allowing guns in schools.

Mendez is an atheist, and one of few atheist politicians serving in the United States. Mendez gained national attention in 2013 for choosing to open a House meeting with a secular speech, rather than a traditional religious prayer. During his speech, Mendez quoted Carl Sagan.

Mendez, along with fellow representatives Clark, Hale, Larkin, and Mach, introduced HB2283 in 2016 to enact Ranked-Choice Voting for all Arizona elections. The text of the bill contained provisions for Instant Runoff Voting, for single-seat positions, and for Single Transferable Vote, for multi-seat positions. It also contained provisions to educate voters on Ranked-Choice Voting, and to ensure voting machines would be compliant with ranked ballots. The bill was referred to both the House Elections Committee and the House Rules Committee, but received no action in either committee, and received no floor votes.

Mendez serves on the City of Phoenix Human Services Advisory Committee, and manages the nonprofit Community Voice Mail, an organization devoted to helping the impoverished.

In 2018, The Arizona Republic confirmed that Mendez plagiarized some responses to a questionnaire. Additionally, in 2018, he was the only member of the Arizona Senate to vote against a bill designating the Sonorasaurus as Arizona's state dinosaur. In his vote explanation, Mendez stated that he voted against the bill because it didn't have an amendment acknowledging that the dinosaur was a vegetarian.

In 2023, Mendez became the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Elections.

In February 2024, Mendez welcomed members of the Satanic Temple of Arizona to the Arizona Senate and discussed their right to religious freedom. Mendez would go on later in the day to be the only Senator to vote against a bill banning Satanic displays on State Property.

Personal life
In mid-March 2019, Mendez became engaged to a fellow legislator, Arizona Representative Athena Salman, and they were married in 2022. Together, they have two children.