Denise Aguilar Mendez is a shining example of the promise of the American dream, rising from a life of gangs and the streets to become an effective advocate for children and parental rights.

In 2015, Denise’s life was changed dramatically, with her involvement in civic engagement after California’s Senate Bill 277 was passed into law. That bill eliminated California’s longstanding Personal Beliefs Exemption allowing parents to opt out of certain childhood vaccinations. From that moment on, her decision to change her life and get into politics was based on pure love for her children and the children in our community.

In 2019, Denise cofounded Freedom Angels, a human and civil rights organization, after the California legislature again attacked health freedom with Senate Bill 276. SB276 essentially removed all functional exemptions for K-12 school vaccinations, and attacked doctors who wrote medical exemptions.

In 2022, Freedom Angels took their grassroots advocacy to the next level. Denise and her cofounder Tara Thornton developed an effective strategy to work with both Democrats and Republicans in supporting or opposing legislation that did not truly represent Californians. Freedom Angels built networks of district-to-Capitol advocates by training community members to advocate for themselves and their families.  Freedom Angels has helped bring about critical victories: defeating SB866, which would have medically emancipated all 12-year-olds; ending AB659’s mandate of the HPV shot for children in public and private school and college; and the passage of SB14–which was initially blocked by the Assembly Public Safety Committee–to finally classify child human trafficking as a serious felony.   

Working at the Capitol every legislative session since 2015, Denise embodies “boots on the ground.” She has logged countless hours in Sacramento, building relationships with both parties and understanding how the legislative process works.  Denise decided to run for Assembly and help course-correct bad laws after seeing how extreme legislators have become, representing radical agendas and special interest groups, not their own constituents.

Denise’s focus is protecting children and parental rights, and correcting the soft-on-crime laws that have put small businesses in danger. Californians pay exorbitant taxes and fees, yet we have a massive budget deficit and crumbling infrastructure.

It’s time for the real California to shine. Elect Denise Aguilar Mendez to show the nation that what’s happened to our beautiful state does not represent us.