Monica R. Martinez, State Senate Dist 3

Monica R. Martinez

Democrat

BACKGROUND: Martinez, 41 of Brentwood, is running on the Democratic, Working Families, Independence and Women’s Equality party lines. Martinez is a third-term Suffolk legislator who was first elected to office in 2013. She has served as chair of the legislature’s human services committee, vice chair of the budget and finance and education and information technology committees and was a member of the health and public safety committees. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Binghamton University in 1999 and her master’s degree in secondary education from New York University in 2000. She also holds an administrative degree in school and district leadership from Stony Brook University from 2008. Before her election, Martinez worked as a teacher and as an assistant principal in the Brentwood school district.

ISSUES: Martinez said she opened a resource center in Brentwood that was served by county agencies such as the Human Rights Commission and the Department of Social Services. She also secured funding for a feasibility study – the first of its kind, she said – to see if Central Islip can connect to the Southwest Sewer District. Martinez said she wants to make sure constituents get an adequate return on investment for the high taxes they pay. She said she is running on common sense gun legislation, and on initiatives meant to properly equip law enforcement so officers can combat gang violence and the opioid epidemic. “I’m going to be running on my record,” she said. “I will bring the leadership I had at the county to Albany. We will continue to equip law enforcement with the tools and resources needed to keep our families safe. I would like to continue to invest in clean water, as well as increasing school funding.” Martinez added its time for new blood in the Senate in terms of a Democratic candidate. “Albany needs new leadership and people are seeing that from me,” she said.