Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden has added additional campaign staff in Arizona. According to a Twitter post written by Jessica Mejia, Tony Cani, Jacob Smith, Cynthia Aragon, Geoff Burgan, and Emma Brown will all join Biden’s team. Mejia was hired by Biden in June and is Arizona’s state director for Biden’s campaign.
Excited to welcome @AragonCynthia as our AZ pol director, @tcani & @jacobmatthew as deputy state directors, and @emmasgtbrown as coordinated director to @TeamJoe! #AZ #TeamJoe
Originally tweeted by Jessica Mejía (@thejessicamejia) on July 14, 2020.
Tony Cani managed the campaign of Mayor Kate Gallego in 2019. Jacob Smith, who will be the deputy state director, recently worked on campaigns for Kristen Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. Cynthia Aragon’s experience comes from serving 12 years in the Arizona House of Representatives Democratic Caucus. Geoff Burgan worked as Communications Director for Andrew Gillum in Florida. Emma Brown worked as Deputy Campaign Manager in Mark Kelly’s U.S. Senate race.
Biden’s first two Arizona hires were Jessica Mejia and Andrew Piatt. According to AZCentral, Mejia was the state director for California during the party’s primary. Piatt served as campaign manager in Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s successful 2018 run and will be the campaign’s senior advisor.
The announcement comes after many top officials within the Democratic Party worried that Biden’s reluctance to hire senior staffers for key states would hurt his campaign. According to a June report in Bloomberg, the campaign missed a June deadline for hiring leaders in the battleground states. The deadline was then moved to July 1.
In contrast, President Donald Trump set his sights on Arizona back in May 2019. Arizona was a critical state in helping Trump win the 2016 election. Having the advantage of a sizeable incumbent campaign budget, Trump has been able to keep Arizona as an ally in the 2020 election.
Recent polls have shown Biden inching closer to a possible win in traditionally Republican won states like Texas and Arizona.
