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 (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, 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, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

representing the

4th district Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

. Martinez has also served in the Suffolk County Legislature, 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, officially the Republic of 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 by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

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 in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

, and subsequently a masters and administrative degree from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

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 Assemblyma ...

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 (New York), hamlet in the Islip, New York, Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 62,387 at the 2020 Census, making it the m ...

. 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 borde ...

, councilman Antonio Martinez.

New York State 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 Revenge porn is the distribution of sexually explicit images or videos of individuals without their consent, with the punitive intention to create public humiliation or character assassination out of revenge against the victim. The material ma ...

* S3852A in the 2019-2020 session, also known as "Shannon's Law", expanding coverage for

mammogram Mammography (also called mastography; DICOM modality: MG) 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 ...

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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 ...

. 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 to Rodriguez's 46.85%.

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 women politicians 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature