Javan Daniel "J.D." Mesnard (born May 15, 1980 in Tampa,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

) is an American politician and a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the Arizona Senate representing District 13 since 2023. He previously represented District 17 from 2019 to 2023. Mesnard spent eight years as a staffer for the Arizona Senate before being elected to the Arizona House of Representatives (where he was Speaker of the House for one term), from District 21 (Chandler, Gilbert, Sun Lakes, Mesa, Queen Creek) from 2011 to 2013, and then from District 17 (Chandler, Gilbert, Sun Lakes) from 2013 to 2019. Mesnard was elected to the state Senate in 2018, and took office in 2019. In the state legislature, Mesnard has opposed Arizona's

Medicaid expansion In the context of American public healthcare policy, Medicaid coverage gap refers to uninsured people who reside in states which have opted out of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), who are both ineligible for Medicaid unde ...

, promoted the expansion of

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

expansion, and proposed legislation to curtail

voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

by purging voters from the rolls.

Education

Mesnard is on the adjunct faculty at Mesa Community College. Mesnard earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in music composition from Arizona State University, his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in business from

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree level ...

, and his master's in

public administration Public Administration (a form of governance) or Public Policy and Administration (an academic discipline) is the implementation of public policy, administration of government establishment (public governance), management of non-profit est ...

from Keller Graduate School of Management (now

DeVry University DeVry University () is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator but ...

Career

Prior to running for office, Mesnard spent eight years working at the Arizona Senate where he served as a policy advisor.

Arizona House of Representatives

Mesnard was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in the 2010 elections, and took office in January 2011. He was Speaker Pro Tempore under Speaker Tobin from 2013 to 2014. He was Speaker of the House for the 2017–2018 term. As House speaker, Mesnard was a key supporter of

expansion legislation; the proposal passed the legislature, but a grassroots group collected enough signatures to refer the issue to voters. In November 2018, the voucher-expansion proposal (Proposition 305) was rejected by a large margin.

Arizona Senate

Mesnard was elected to the Arizona Senate in the 2018 elections, taking office in January 2019. He chairs the Senate Commerce Committee and previously chaired the Finance Committee. In 2019, Mesnard introduced legislation to create the position of lieutenant governor of Arizona beginning in 2026. Arizona is one of a minority of states without the office; Arizona voters had previously rejected proposals to create the office in 1994 and 2010.

Health care

Mesnard opposes the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

(Obamacare). He also opposes

, which Arizona adopted in 2013. In 2015, Mesnard was among 36 current and former Republican lawmakers who filed an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to overturn Arizona's Medicaid expansion on the grounds that an assessment imposed on hospitals was a tax that, under Proposition 108 (a ballot initiative passed in 1992), required the approval of a two-thirds majority of the Legislature. The lawsuit was unanimously rejected by the

Arizona Supreme Court The Arizona Supreme Court is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Arizona. Sitting in the Supreme Court building in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justice ...

in a 2017 decision.

Voting rights

In 2021, several months after Republican presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

was defeated in Arizona, Mesnard voted to purge approximately 200,000 individuals from Arizona voter rolls from the state's permanent

early voting Early voting, also called advance polling or pre-poll voting, is a convenience voting process by which voters in a public election can vote before a scheduled election day. Early voting can take place remotely, such as via postal voting, or in ...

list because they had not voted in two consecutive election cycles. The bill, sponsored by Republican senator

Michelle Ugenti-Rita Michelle Ugenti-Rita (born June 28, 1980) is an American politician and a former Republican member of the Arizona State Senate representing District 23 from 2019 to 2023. She previously served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2013 to ...

, was strongly opposed by Democrats; Democratic leader Rebecca Rios called it "sore loser" legislation. Mesnard characterized the bill as a cost-saving measure.

Elections

*2014: Mesnard and Jeff Weninger defeated Danielle Lee on November 4
(PDF)
Mesnard received 30,018 votes. *2012: Redistricted to District 17 with fellow incumbent Representative Forese, and with incumbent Democratic Representatives

Ed Ableser Edward Zachary Ableser (born March 16, 1978) is a Democratic politician. He served in the Arizona Senate, representing the 26th district. His district included parts of Mesa, Tempe, and south Scottsdale. Previously he was a member of the Ariz ...

running for Arizona Senate and Ben Arredondo leaving the Legislature, Forese and Mesnard were unopposed for the August 28, 2012 Republican Primary; Forese placed first, and Mesnard placed second with 13,439 votes; Forese and Mesnard won the four-way November 6, 2012 General election, with Forese taking the first seat and Mesnard taking the second seat with 42,955 votes against Democratic nominee Karyn Lathan and a

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

. *2010: When District 21 incumbent Republican Representative Steve Yarbrough ran for Arizona Senate and Warde Nichols left the Legislature, Mesnard ran in the three-way August 24, 2010 Republican Primary, placing second with 13,086 votes; in the three-way November 2, 2010 General election, Thomas Forese took the first seat, and Mesnard took the second seat with 39,891 votes against

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

candidate Linda Macias.

References

External links

Official page
at the Arizona State Legislature
Campaign site
* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Mesnard, J. D. 1981 births 21st-century American politicians Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Republican Party Arizona state senators Arizona State University alumni Living people People from Chandler, Arizona People from Tampa, Florida Speakers of the Arizona House of Representatives University of Phoenix alumni