Juan A Martinez
Juan Anthony Martinez is a libertarian political operative and executive within the Stand Together / Americans for Prosperity network of organizations. He previously served as Deputy Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative and as State Director over all Americans for Prosperity's network operations in Nevada. [1] Before entering politics, he had a career in real estate and co-founded his own mortgage firm. [2]
| Juan Anthony Martinez | |
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| Personal Details | |
| Birth: | 1982 North Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Education: | College of Southern Nevada (A.B., 2011), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (B.S., 2014) |
| Occupation: | Political Executive |
| Residence: | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Party: | Republican (registered) + Libertarian Party (lifetime member) |
| Media | |
| Website: | Juan.Vegas |
| Twitter: | |
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Martinez has been a lifetime member of the Libertarian Party since April 2019. [3] He is a former Democrat who became interested in libertarianism because of Ron Paul. [2] Martinez is a former elected board Trustee of the Clark County Republican Party (2012 - 2014) and a former member of the Nevada Republican Central Committee, where he advocated for libertarian views inside the Republican Party. [1] [2] [4]
Martinez was also a candidate for North Las Vegas City Council in 2013. [5] Although he didn't win, the City Council later appointed him to the North Las Vegas Civil Service Board of Trustees, where he served from September 2014 - December 2016. [1]
Early Life
Martinez was born in North Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1982. He grew up in poverty and was raised in a broken home by a single white mother without ever knowing his Hispanic father. As a result, he didn't learn to speak Spanish until well into adulthood. He cites these experiences as a major reason why he was initially a Democrat before discovering the power of freedom and the market. [2]
Martinez graduated from Rancho High School in North Las Vegas. [2]
Early Career and Foray into Politics
Martinez co-founded a mortgage brokerage firm in Las Vegas. It became one of the top mortgage brokerages in the city until the onset of the Great Recession. [2]
Martinez caucused for Ron Paul in the 2012 Nevada Republican caucuses and was a delegate to the 2012 Nevada Republican Convention, where he met other libertarian activists who got him more involved in formal politics. [2] He was later elected to both the board of the Clark County Republican Party and the Nevada Republican Central Committee, serving in the former role from 2012 - 2014. [1]
Campaign for North Las Vegas City Council (2013)
Martinez ran to represent Ward 1 on the North Las Vegas City Council in 2013. [5] He was convinced to run by several libertarian friends who also held leadership positions in the Clark County Republican Party. The pivotal conversation took place one night in late 2012 in the cafe of the El Cortez, a casino in downtown Las Vegas. It was debated if Martinez should run for City Council or for Mayor of North Las Vegas, with City Council ultimately being settled on as the better choice. [2] [4]
The race was officially non-partisan, but the district leaned heavily Democratic. In addition to Martinez, the other candidates were: [5]
- Isaac Barron (D), who was endorsed by Harry Reid and other key leaders from the Nevada Democratic Party
- Jared Hardy (R), son of former City Councilman Brent Hardy
- Jeff Eggeman, a perennial candidate
Many board members of the Clark County Republican Party, at the time controlled by libertarians, endorsed Martinez. [2] [4]
Martinez's campaign ran on a shoestring budget with heavy grassroots volunteer support, and achieved a significantly lower expense per vote ratio than any other candidate. It used many tactics that were considered unconventional, such as diamond-shaped signs, hand-written letters, and the encouragement of supporters to request mail-in ballots. [2] [4]
Martinez received 17.92% in the non-partisan primary and did not advance to the general election. Although he was a registered Republican, he is believed to have mostly drawn Democrat support away from Barron, thus preventing him from claiming the 50%+ he needed for an automatic win in the primary. [5] [2]
Politics as Career
Martinez joined The LIBRE Initiative team around late 2013 as an independent contractor working on field operations.
In April 2014, Martinez co-founded the Synergy Opportunity Liberty Organization (SOLO USA), a Nevada-based non-profit intended to promote libertarian ideas to Hispanics. [2] [4] [6] He was named Nevada State Director of The LIBRE Initiative just a few months later in July 2014. [1] [4]
Martinez was appointed by the North Las Vegas City Council to the city's Civil Service Board of Trustees in September 2014, serving until December 2016. [1]
After Americans for Prosperity combined all of their advocacy organizations under central leadership, Martinez was appointed Nevada State Director for the entire Americans for Prosperity political advocacy network in October 2016. In that position, he ran all Nevada operations for the flagship Americans for Prosperity brand, as well as The LIBRE Initiative, Concerned Veterans for America, and Generation Opportunity. He was credited by many colleagues with building the most successful grassroots organization within the entire network. [1] [2] [4]
Martinez also briefly served as interim Executive Director of The LIBRE Institute, the 501(c)(3) wing of LIBRE. [2] [4]
In December 2020, Martinez was named Deputy Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative and handed over Nevada operations to a successor. [1] [2] [4]
Personal
Martinez married his longtime girlfriend Ebru in June 2019. Their daughter Ayla was born in 2021. They still reside in Las Vegas. [2] [4]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Juan Martinez's LinkedIn
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Conversations between Juan Martinez and Nick Gausling
- ↑ LP Lifetime Member Roster
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 Nick Gausling (friend of Martinez and first-hand source)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Unofficial Municipal Primary Election Results, City of North Las Vegas (2013)
- ↑ Nevada SilverFlume Business Entity Search, Entity Number: E0216072014-7