The Daily Mail reports that JoAnna Mendoza, 49, a Democratic candidate seeking to flip a competitive US House seat in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, was previously married, despite her public image as a never-married "single mom by choice". A Marine veteran and first-time federal candidate, Mendoza has drawn national attention and out-raised her Republican opponent, incumbent Juan Ciscomani, in a race rated a "toss up" that recent polls show her narrowly leading. The report matters because it questions the accuracy of the personal biography she has presented to voters.

According to records the paper says it obtained, Mendoza married a Syrian national named Tariq Alrawwass, who never joined her in the United States, in a union the article characterises as brief and unusual. The seat is considered one of the most closely contested in the country, with an even partisan split, and Mendoza has campaigned as a sober, working-class-focused mother who grew up in rural poverty and is raising her ten-year-old son, Aiden. The article contrasts her frequent references to her son with her silence on other aspects of her family history.