Eduardo Martinez (born 1949) is an American politician, former teacher, and the mayor of Richmond, California. [1] [2]
He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Richmond Progressive Alliance. [1] [2] [3]
Martinez was born in 1949 in Dumas, Texas. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s. [4]
He received a B.A. from San Francisco State University. He taught in the West Contra Costa Unified School District for many years. [4]
In 2014, Martinez was elected to the Richmond City Council. [4]
In 2023, he supported a resolution that was passed by the Richmond City Council expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. [5] [6]
In 2024, he supported a ballot initiative on oil taxes that resulted in a $550 million settlement from Chevron. [7] [3]
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 3, 1905, and has a city council. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area's East Bay region, Richmond borders San Pablo, Albany, El Cerrito and Pinole in addition to the unincorporated communities of North Richmond, Hasford Heights, Kensington, El Sobrante, Bayview-Montalvin Manor, Tara Hills, and East Richmond Heights, and for a short distance San Francisco on Red Rock Island in the San Francisco Bay.
San Ramon is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located within the San Ramon Valley, and 34 miles (55 km) east of San Francisco. San Ramon's population was 84,605 per the 2020 census, making it the 4th largest city in Contra Costa County, behind Concord, Richmond and Antioch.
The Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) is a progressive political group in Richmond and western Contra Costa County, California, United States. RPA formed in 2003 by local progressives.
Gayle McLaughlin is an American politician from Richmond, California. She was first elected to the Richmond City Council in 2004 when she was a member of the Green Party of California. She won two consecutive four-year terms as the city's mayor in 2006 and 2010. After reaching the mayoral term limit, she was reelected to the City Council in 2014. In June 2017, she announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor of California in the 2018 election.
Jim Rogers is an American politician. He served on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in the 1990s, and was a city council member for the city of Richmond, California for three terms. He was first elected to the city council in 2002, and his final term expired in January 2015. He is a Democrat, considered a moderate, and has also been referred to as a progressive. He was called the San Francisco Bay Area's most famous lawyer because of television ads in which he dubbed himself as "The People's Lawyer".
The Richmond City Council is the governing body for the city of Richmond, California. The council consists of the Mayor of Richmond and six other city council members, one designated Vice Mayor. The council members are all elected from the whole city; no members are elected by district or ward. The council members are elected to four-year terms, as opposed to the previous six-year terms. They are not all elected at once. The council members meet every first and third Tuesday of the month and, if necessary, hold special meetings on the remaining Tuesdays. Presently the entire city council is Democratic.
The Richmond, California 2006 city election decided the mayor, four council members, and one measure submitted to the voters of Richmond, California on November 7, 2007. The election also elected the first Green Party mayor of this city, and made Richmond the largest city in the United States to have a Green mayor. Furthermore, it unseated an incumbent mayor from a major political party by one from a minor third party.
John E. Márquez is an American politician and activist who has held various positions in Richmond, California city government. For eighteen years, Márquez served as a city councilman. He was the first Latino to serve on the Richmond City Council. Originally he was an appointee to the council in 1985 and won an election to that seat in 1987; he subsequently lost his second bid in 1991. He was elected again in 1993 and twice more in 1997 and 2004. In 1990 and 1998, he served as vice mayor. Márquez was defeated for re-election in 2008, and lost a mayoral bid in 2001 to Gayle McLaughlin. In addition to his elected offices in the city of Richmond, he has held various other positions in Contra Costa County, California on various commissions.
Rosemary Corbin is a longstanding Democratic public figure and former mayor of Richmond, California.
Thomas King Butt is an American politician and architect and the former mayor of Richmond, California. He was vice-mayor in 2002 and 2012 and a member of the Richmond City Council for over 20 years before being elected mayor. He is the longest continuously serving council member in Richmond's history.
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office is the legal agency charged with prosecuting crimes in the City and County of San Francisco, California, under California state law. The current district attorney is Brooke Jenkins. Occupants of this office have gone on to higher elected offices, including: governor of California, United States senator, and vice president of the United States.
London Nicole Breed is an American politician who is the 45th and current mayor of San Francisco, serving since 2018. She was supervisor for District 5 and was president of the Board of Supervisors from 2015 to 2018.
Kevin Mullin is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 15th congressional district since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the California State Assembly from the 22nd district, which encompasses most of the San Francisco Peninsula region, from 2012 to 2022.
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr. is an American politician who served in the California State Assembly from 2012 to 2024. Representing the 59th district from 2012 to 2022 and the 57th district from 2022 to 2024, Jones-Sawyer was a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus and served as chair of the caucus from 2015 to 2016. In 2023, he announced his candidacy for the Los Angeles City Council for the 2024 Los Angeles elections, in which he placed 5th out of five candidates in the primary.
The Richmond, California 2014 city election decided the mayor, three council members, and one measure submitted to the voters of Richmond, California on November 4, 2014. The election attracted national attention due to the amount of money spent by Chevron both for and against various candidates. Chevron created two political action committees and contributed $2,933,363.90 to them amounting to a total of about $30 per city resident. The only other source of money for them was $5000 each from the Richmond Police Officers Association and the local Firefighter's union. As of October 10, they spent $1.4 Million supporting Nat Bates for mayor and Donna Powers, Charles Ramsey and Al Martinez for the city council. They spent a further $500,000 on negative campaigning against council candidates Gayle McLaughlin, Jovanka Beckles and Eduardo Martinez. The other major candidate for mayor, Tom Butt, had a campaign budget of just over $22,000.
The 2018 California lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the lieutenant governor of California. Incumbent Democratic lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom was ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits and ran for governor of California instead. Democrats Eleni Kounalakis and Ed Hernandez faced each other in the general election, as no Republican finished in the top two positions of the nonpartisan blanket primary that was held on June 5, 2018.
Ash Kalra is a Canadian-American politician who has served as a member of the California State Assembly since 2016. A member of the Democratic Party, Kalra previously served on the San Jose City Council from 2008 to 2016.
Jovanka Beckles is an American politician serving as a member of the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Board for Ward 1. She previously served as a member of the Richmond City Council.
Matthew William Mahan is an American politician and tech entrepreneur who has served as the mayor of San Jose since 2023. He previously served as the District 10 Councilmember representing the Almaden Valley, Blossom Valley, and Vista Park neighborhoods. Mahan also served as the co-founder and CEO of Brigade Media, a tech company focused on civic engagement.
Sheng Thao is an American politician who is the 51st and current mayor of Oakland, California. She is the first Hmong American mayor of a major city in the United States. She was elected as mayor of Oakland in November 2022 and started her term in January 2023. On November 5, 2024, Thao was recalled. She is the first mayor in Oakland’s history to be recalled.