First female Marine elected to Congress as women veterans hit ‘record’ numbers

The first woman to represent the Marine Corps in Congress was just elected to a House seat in Arizona.

JoAnna Mendoza served in the Navy from 1994 to 1997 and the Marine Corps from 1998 to 2016, until she retired as a gunnery sergeant. Mendoza, a Democrat, was just elected to represent Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, which includes the suburbs of Tucson and extends to the southeast part of the state, bordering Mexico.

The first female Marine elected to Congress joins a “record number” of women veterans who will serve when they’re sworn into office in January. The increased number of women elected to Congress, however, comes amid a decline in the overall number of veterans serving, according to an analysis from With Honor Action.

“We’ve seen a decline in veterans serving in Congress, and veterans bring a very unique skill set and experience to really everything. I mean, we’re used to being uncomfortable. We’re used to having difficult conversations and we’re very mission-focused and action-oriented,” Mendoza told Task & Purpose. “About 12 female veterans right now, at least that I’m tracking, I’ll be serving alongside in Congress. It’s a pretty exciting time.”

A dozen women veterans are set to take seats in the House, which would double the number currently serving as federal lawmakers. In the last election, seven female veterans were in the House of Representatives, but it dropped to six after Mikie Sherrill resigned to become governor of New Jersey, according to Seth McCormick Lynn, founder of the Veterans Campaign, a nonpartisan non-profit that educates veterans about civic and political leadership after service.  

JoAnna Mendoza (right) in Washington, D.C., for orientation on Capitol Hill with other newly elected members of Congress. Getty Images Photo by Andrew Harnik.

“That’s a huge increase, and also a big part because the Democrats have done so well in recent years. Close to half of the new veterans coming out of the Democratic Party into the House have been women,” Lynn said.

Among the women veterans headed to Congress, eight ran as Democrats, and two as Republicans when they won their House seats in November’s midterms. Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral running for a House seat in Colorado, has declared victory in her race against her Republican opponent, but the race had not officially been called as of Tuesday. Those ten women veterans, and Launbacher, are set to join Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a retired Army Black Hawk pilot, in January.

Lynn said the number of female veterans running for office coincides with more women serving in the military and in public office. He also said what makes these candidates more unique these days is that many of these women serving in Congress post-military service have “impressive military credentials.”

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“I think that’s actually kind of the same for a lot of veterans post-9/11. Before that, maybe it was someone who’d done a Reserve gig or time in the National Guard during Vietnam,” he said. “But a lot of them are combat veterans. A lot of them are graduates of service academies. Two coming into office this time are former admirals. It’s an interesting crop.”

Mendoza did tours in Iraq and in Afghanistan and worked as a military administrative specialist, identifying military equipment trends, and deploying with a specialized group in 2012 to Afghanistan to bring back equipment from the Middle East “because we had severely depleted all of our assets on the [Maritime Prepositioning Force] ships,” she said. But Mendoza said, serving as a Marine Corps drill instructor for five years was the “highlight” of her career.

JoAnna Mendoza, a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, was just elected to a House seat in Arizona. Photo Courtesy of JoAnna Mendoza’s office.

Several veterans who successfully ran as Democrats were part of what election analysts call the “blue wave” and flipped seats held by Republicans. If Laubacher wins, she’ll be joined by Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot who won a New Jersey House seat and Army veteran Cait Conley, who unseated a Republican in New York.

Among the incoming class of veteran congresswomen is Nancy Lacore, a vice admiral who served as chief of the Navy Reserve before she was fired by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in August 2025. She will represent a district in South Carolina. 

“The Democrats are getting a lot of credibility right now to basically do oversight of the Department of War, and that’s going to be an interesting thing to see how they do that,” Lynn said. “It’s a major increase in their ability to do oversight.”

Mendoza said some of the policies she’s interested in working on regarding Iran include safeguarding the military’s stockpile, which has been depleted from ongoing operations, and ensuring the Pentagon’s classification of injuries and casualties in the Iran war is accurate so benefits for military families and veteran benefits aren’t impacted.

“It’s going to be extremely important to have those voices from veterans, from individuals who have served this country and been willing to give their life in service for America and our Constitution, and really push back on this administration, especially when it comes to deploying our troops,” Mendoza said. 

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