Gina Ortiz Jones

Gina Ortiz Jones was the 2018 and 2020 Democratic nominee for Texas' 23rd congressional district. She is an American Iraq War veteran and intelligence officer.

Attending college on an ROTC scholarship, Ortiz Jones earned a Bachelor of Arts in East Asian studies and Master of Arts in economics from Boston College in 2003. She later earned a master's degree in military arts and sciences at the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies of the United States Army Command and General Staff College.

After college, Ortiz Jones joined the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence officer and was deployed to Iraq. After three years of active duty, she returned to Texas and worked for a consulting company while caring for her ill mother, then worked as an intelligence analyst for U.S. Africa Command in Germany. In 2008, she joined the Defense Intelligence Agency, where she specialized in Latin American topics, ultimately becoming a special advisor to the deputy director. In November 2016, she moved to the Executive Office of the President to serve under the U.S. Trade Representative, continuing that role until June 2017.