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Juan A Martinez: Difference between revisions
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|death-date = | |death-date = | ||
|death-place = | |death-place = | ||
|education = University of Nevada, Las Vegas | |education = College of Southern Nevada (A.B., 2011), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (B.S., 2014) | ||
|military = | |military = | ||
|occupation = Political Executive | |occupation = Political Executive | ||
|residence = Las Vegas, Nevada | |residence = Las Vegas, Nevada | ||
|party = Republican (registered) + Libertarian Party (lifetime member | |party = Republican (registered) + Libertarian Party (lifetime member) | ||
|website = [https://juan.vegas/ Juan.Vegas] | |website = [https://juan.vegas/ Juan.Vegas] | ||
|facebook = | |facebook = | ||
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'''Juan Anthony Martinez''' is an executive within the [[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. Before entering politics, he had a career in real estate and co-founded his own mortgage firm. | '''Juan Anthony Martinez''' is an executive within the [[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. <ref name=":0">[http://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-martinez Juan Martinez's LinkedIn]</ref> Before entering politics, he had a career in real estate and co-founded his own mortgage firm. <ref name=":2">Conversations between Juan Martinez and Nick Gausling</ref> | ||
Martinez has been a lifetime member of the [[Libertarian Party]] since April 2019. | Martinez has been a lifetime member of the [[Libertarian Party]] since April 2019. <ref>[https://www.lp.org/libertarian-party-lifetime-members/ LP Lifetime Member Roster]</ref> He is a former Democrat who became interested in libertarianism because of [[Ron Paul]]. <ref name=":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. <ref name=":0" /> <ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":1">Nick Gausling (friend of Martinez and first-hand source)</ref> | ||
Martinez was a candidate for North Las Vegas City Council in 2013. The campaign 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. Although he was a registered Republican, | Martinez was also a candidate for North Las Vegas City Council in 2013. <ref name=":3" /> 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. <ref name=":0" /> | ||
==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. <ref name=":2" /> | |||
Martinez graduated from Rancho High School in North Las Vegas. <ref name=":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. <ref name=":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. <ref name=":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. <ref name=":0" /> | |||
==Campaign for North Las Vegas City Council (2013)== | |||
Martinez ran to represent Ward 1 on the North Las Vegas City Council in 2013. <ref name=":3">[https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSelectionPages/results/2013CityPrimary/CityofNorthLasVegas.aspx Unofficial Municipal Primary Election Results, City of North Las Vegas (2013)]</ref> | |||
The race was officially non-partisan, but the district leaned heavily Democratic. In addition to Martinez, the other candidates were: <ref name=":3" /> | |||
#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. <ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":1" /> | |||
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. <ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":1" /> | |||
Martinez received 17.92% in the primary. 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 without a general election. <ref name=":3" /> <ref name=":2" /> | |||
==Politics as Career== | |||
Martinez joined [[The LIBRE Initiative]] around late 2013 as a field contractor, and by July 2014 rose to become the State Director. <ref name=":0" /> <ref name=":1" /> | |||
He 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. <ref name=":0" /> | |||
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 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. <ref name=":0" /> <ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":1" /> | |||
Martinez also briefly served as interim Executive Director of The LIBRE Institute, the 501(c)(3) wing of LIBRE. <ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":1" /> | |||
In December 2020, Martinez was named Deputy Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative and handed over Nevada operations to a successor. <ref name=":0" /> <ref name=":2" /> <ref name=":1" /> | |||
==Personal== | |||
Martinez married his longtime girlfriend Ebru in June 2019. Their daughter Ayla was born in 2021. | |||
[[Category:Activists]] | [[Category:Activists]] | ||