The Digital Landscape #002: AZ-06
This is an overview of the social media presences of the Democratic candidates in Arizona’s 6th Congressional district. There are 4 candidates in the race as of 12/26/25.
The primary is August 4th 2026.
The candidates are:
Jonathan Buma
Jonathan Buma is probably the most intriguing person out of the four. He has zero social media presence.
But he was a former FBI agent who was arrested for leaking FBI information, but he says it was whistleblower intimidation. I don’t really know the details of his case, but if what he says is actually defensible, that would play incredibly well on social media.
I’d be making being a whistleblower the centerpiece of his social media presence if I were him and focus my content on government transparency.
Chris Donat
Chris Donat has a Facebook and an Instagram. He dabbled in video around 4 months ago but has since stopped. While he doesn’t have much of a following on either platform, he did post a Christmas-themed meme about the Republican incumbent. It didn’t take off, but that deserves an A for effort.
If I were him, I’d do more videos and even some more memes, with a focus on consistently putting out content.
JoAnna Mendoza
JoAnna Mendoza has the strongest social media presence of the four. She has 5,500 followers on X and maintains an active presence there, although it’s really nothing beyond your standard bare minimum to maintain a political presence.
She also has over 8,900 followers on Instagram. A big chunk of that came from a viral video of her and the other “Hellcats” - a group of women with military experience running for Congress.
Traditional media loves a candidate with military experience, and her Instagram features all of her media opportunities mixed in with standard campaign trail content. Overall, it’s a solid presence.
I would just go all-in on consistently creating video to hammer home that fighter vibe that her military experience gives her the foundation for.
Samantha Severson
Samantha Severson is the only candidate in this race on Threads and TikTok, and she has over 1600 followers on the latter. I think she is in the best position to make noise on social media in this race as a foil to JoAnna. I’d go all-in on these 2 platforms.
