JoAnna Mendoza was raised in a farmworker family in rural Pinal County, where she learned early how hard families can work and still struggle to get ahead. At 17, she enlisted in the Navy, followed by the Marine Corps, where she served for a total of two decades. She deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and trained the next generation of Marines as a Drill Instructor. JoAnna brings Southern Arizona a grounded understanding of military service, rural communities, and the responsibility of making government work for people who rarely get the benefit of Washington’s attention.
