Javan Daniel "J. D." Mesnard (born May 15, 1980) is an American politician and a Republican member of the

Arizona Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figure ...

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 The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

(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.

Education

Mesnard is on the adjunct faculty at

Mesa Community College Mesa Community College (MCC) is a Public college, public community college in Mesa, Arizona. It is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District, the largest community college district in the Unite ...

. Mesnard earned his

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

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called ...

from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate 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 prac ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

from

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a Private university, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the Ac ...

, and his master's in

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

from Keller Graduate School of Management (now DeVry University).

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 school voucher 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. Mesnard voted against repealing Arizona's 1846 total ban on abortion.

Health care

Mesnard opposes the

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

(Obamacare). He also opposes Medicaid expansion, 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, the court consists of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Each justi ...

in a 2017 decision.

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 running for

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 com ...

candidate Linda Macias.

References

External links

Official page
at the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...

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