Martinez received about 36 percent of the vote, beating out runner-up Shawn Dunning by less than a thousand votes. Former two-time mayor, Nat Bates, finished a close third.
In January, Martinez will succeed Mayor Tom Butt, who held the office for 28 years.
Richmond’s population is about 44-percent Latino. The 75-year-old Martinez is a second-generation Mexican-American born in Texas, who moved to the Bay Area in the 1970s. He has lived in Richmond since 1993.
Martinez is a member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance – which was formed to promote environmental justice – and has served on the city council for the past eight years.
During the campaign, Martinez, a retired elementary school teacher, pledged to work on crime prevention and improve city services. SFGate reports that Martinez has been a strong supporter of rent control and eviction laws, as well as greater corporate responsibility.
He told the Richmond Confidential that there’s a lot of work to be done, but he added that he was confident of being able to select a team to work with him. The mayor-elect also said he would reach out to his opponents in the future.
