Jones was the 2018 Democratic nominee for Texas's 23rd congressional district, narrowly losing to the incumbent Republican Will Hurd.

[1] She ran again for the seat in 2020, winning the Democratic primary, and was defeated by Navy veteran Tony Gonzales in the general election.

Born on February 1, 1981, in Arlington, Virginia,[4] Jones grew up in San Antonio, Texas, as a first-generation American daughter of a single mother, Victorina Ortiz, an Ilocano from Pangasinan, Philippines.

[6] She earned a four-year Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) scholarship,[8] allowing her to enroll at Boston University.

[12] After three years of active duty and reaching the rank of captain, Jones returned to Texas in 2006, working for a consulting company while caring for her mother, who had colon cancer (from which she eventually recovered).

Having previously served under presidents of both parties, Jones continued in her role during the Trump administration until June 2017, when she left her role, telling HuffPost, "The type of people that were brought in to be public servants were interested in neither the public nor the service ... That, to me, was a sign that I'm going to have to serve in a different way.

[15] Media coverage named Jones as part of several "waves" of candidates from various backgrounds running as Democrats in 2018, including women,[18][20] LGBT people,[28][29] and military veterans.

[2] In the November general election, Republican nominee Tony Gonzales defeated Jones by four percentage points.

[39] She enhanced services for victims of domestic abuse and produced a study to provide senior leadership with better data on the performance of female officers, countering anecdotal disparagement of their record.

[39] Ortiz-Jones leads Find Out PAC, a political action committee seeking to defeat Texas Supreme Court justices Jimmy Blacklock, Jane Bland and John Devine, who were running for re-election in 2024, because of their decision in Cox v.