Monica R. Martinez (born August 13, 1977) is a Salvadoran-American, civil servant, educator and politician from the state of New York. A

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

, she is a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

representing the 4th district. Martinez has also served in the

Suffolk County Legislature Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's population ...

, representing the 9th district. She is a former Assistant Principal at East Middle School in Brentwood, NY.

Early life and career

Martinez was born in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and moved to the United States at the age of 3. She received her bachelor's degree from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

, and subsequently a masters and administrative degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system's ...

respectively. Martinez worked as a social studies teacher at Brentwood High School for 10 years before becoming the assistant principal of Brentwood's East Middle School. In 2013, Martinez defeated incumbent Suffolk County Legislator

Ricardo Montano Rick (Ricardo) Montano (born July 1, 1950) is a former Suffolk County Legislator from the 9th District, which includes the Town of Islip in west-central Suffolk County. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and the son of former Assemblyman ...

in the Democratic primary and was subsequently elected to represent Suffolk County's 9th Legislative District. As a legislator, Martinez was known for taking legislative action on the issues of woman's equality and animal rights. Martinez was appointed chairwoman to the Public Safety Committee and pledged to help eradicate the Long Island gang violence epidemic through collaboration with local law enforcement officials. Martinez resides in

Brentwood, New York Brentwood is a hamlet in the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 62,387 at the 2020 Census, making it the most populous in Suffolk County and on all of Long Island outside of New York C ...

. She is the younger sister of the Town of

Babylon, New York The Town of Babylon is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Its population was 218,223 as of the 2020 census. Parts of Jones Beach Island, Captree Island and Fire Island are in the southernmost part of the town. It bord ...

, councilman Antonio Martinez.

New York Senate

On June 5, 2018, Martinez announced her intention to seek the

seat being vacated by

Thomas Croci Thomas D. Croci is an American politician and naval officer from the state of New York. A Republican, Croci represented the 3rd District of the New York State Senate from 2015 through 2018. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for ...

. On November 6, 2018, Martinez defeated Assemblyman Dean Murray by more than 2,500 votes. Martinez was named chair for the Committee on Domestic Animal Welfare. Martinez opposed the Driver's License Access and Privacy Act, a law that authorized undocumented immigrants to obtain New York driver licenses. Of all Senators voting against the bill, Senator Martinez faced the most criticism; she changed her position on the issue after becoming a New York State Senator. Martinez faced protest and has been accused of flip-flopping on the issue and of betraying her own community of origin. Bills introduced by Martinez that were signed into law include: * S1719C in the 2019-2020 session, criminalizing revenge porn * S3852A in the 2019-2020 session, also known as "Shannon's Law", expanding coverage for

mammogram Mammography (also called mastography) is the process of using low-energy X-rays (usually around 30 kVp) to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through d ...

s under health insurance * S8138 in the 2020-2021 session, a bill to allow municipalities to defer tax payments during a state of emergency, such as the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

occurring at the time. In November 2020, Martinez lost her re-election bid to Republican

Alexis Weik Alexis Weik (born September 17, 1972) is an American politician, civil servant, and businesswoman who has represented the 3rd district in the New York State Senate since 2021. A Republican, Weik had previously served as receiver of taxes for the ...

. However, on February 14, 2022 Martinez announced her candidacy to once again represent New York's 3rd Senate District in the 2022 general election. Due to redistricting, Martinez later switched to run in the newly drawn 4th Senate District. She was elected on November 8, 2022, defeating businesswoman Wendy Rodriguez with 49.18% of the vote, compared to Rodriguez's 46.85%. https://patch.com/new-york/bayshore/election-2022-martinez-vs-rodriguez-4th-district-state-senate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Monica Democratic Party New York (state) state senators 1977 births Living people Politicians from Suffolk County, New York American politicians of Salvadoran descent County legislators in New York (state) People from Brentwood, New York Stony Brook University alumni New York University alumni Binghamton University alumni Salvadoran emigrants to the United States 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians