JoAnna Mendoza says she couldn’t help but see herself in Boots, Netflix’s new military drama based on a gay Marine’s memoir set before “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
“I had to watch it twice,” Mendoza told The Advocate. “It just brought back so many memories for me. It really did capture how it is to make a Marine.”
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A former gunnery sergeant and drill instructor who spent more than two decades in the U.S. military, serving two years in the Navy and 17 in the Marine Corps, Mendoza said the show’s portrayal of boot camp stirred something deep and familiar. Watching it with her nine-year-old son, she found herself laughing and crying at the same time.
“He sees all of my drill instructor stuff, and I was like, ‘That really happened!’” she said. “It’s about time to tell these stories of service members who served during ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’”
JoAnna Mendoza campaign
Now, an out LGBTQ+ candidate endorsed by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, Mendoza is running for Congress in Arizona’s 6th District. She said her years in uniform shaped her political compass and her belief that leadership means doing the right thing, not the easy thing.
Related: 'Boots': How a closeted Marine's story became a Netflix show
“To be a leader means to do what’s right, even when people say it’s wrong, and in the face of adversity,” she said. “When you’re out there, you’re not asking people what their political party is or what their orientation is. What you’re saying is, are you competent, can you accomplish the mission, and will you have my back?”
For Mendoza, those lessons translate directly to public service.
“You give so much of yourself for your country,” she said. “When you serve, it’s not about partisanship—it’s about living up to our oath to the Constitution and to one another.”
JoAnna Mendoza campaign
Her belief in service above party informs her view of Congress’s current dysfunction. Mendoza condemned Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who won her special election weeks earlier.
Related: Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva is fighting to serve
“She’s being blocked from doing her job,” Mendoza said. “Until she’s sworn in, you can’t hire staff, you can’t help your constituents—you can’t deliver.”
She called Johnson’s tactics “undemocratic” and said they erode public trust.
“If a new member can’t take their oath and start serving just because of political games, then we have a broken system.”
She added, “Plus, I believe it’s obviously about the Epstein files."
JoAnna Mendoza campaign
As a candidate in a border state, Mendoza frequently discusses immigration and community safety. She supports border security but said recent mass deportation efforts have crossed a line.
“What concerns me about the ICE raids is that they’re not targeting criminals,” she said. “The folks they’re rounding up are small-business owners, pillars in the community, veterans—non-citizen veterans.”
For Mendoza, the issue is not abstract. She worries that communities in southern Arizona are now living under fear, with “masked ICE agents running around our schools.” As a mother, she said, “If somebody tries to detain me and they’ve got a mask on, you better believe I’m going to give them hell before anything else.”
Mendoza and her sonJoAnna Mendoza campaign
If elected, Mendoza said she hopes to “make politics boring again”—not by diminishing its stakes, but by restoring its function. “Can we just get to a point where government is boring because they’re doing their job?” she said.
Her legislative priorities reflect that focus: restoring funding for safety-net programs such as SNAP and WIC, protecting access to Medicaid, and investing in clean energy and sustainable agriculture. “I’m not a show horse,” she said. “I’m a workhorse, and I want to get stuff done for our district.”
She also wants Congress to hold agencies accountable for recent policy failures. “We need to have hearings on the actions of several agencies, including Homeland Security,” she said. “People deserve transparency and relief.”
Congressional candidiate JoAnna MendozaJoAnna Mendoza campaign
Outside politics, Mendoza describes herself as a homebody who loves horror films, audiobooks, and Friday-night movie trips with her son. “Going to the theater is what my son and I do when I have a little bit of time,” she said. “I try to sprinkle in a lot of family time with him.”
She said motherhood has been “the hardest thing I’ve ever done, including boot camp and being a drill instructor.” However, it has also deepened her understanding of what she’s fighting for.
“Our kids are watching,” she said. “We have to lead by example so they can take up that fight when we no longer can.”
And if Netflix ever decides to make a Boots sequel centered on a woman Marine?
“I would certainly watch it,” Mendoza said, smiling. “Or maybe they’ll let me advise on it.”
Mendoza with her sonJoAnna Mendoza campaign
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