For Marty Martinez, the fight to end gun violence is personal. In 2007, as a gunman claimed the lives of 32 students and staff members at Virginia Tech, he was forced to worry for the safety of his two daughters on campus—just as so many parents across the country have had to do in recent years in the face of an onslaught of school shootings. While his daughters were, fortunately, unharmed, Martinez has made fighting gun violence a top priority ever since. As the former vice mayor of Leesburg, he consistently advocated for commonsense solutions to curb the epidemic of gun violence in Virginia, only to be restrained as a locality in what they could do due to restrictive state laws. In Richmond, he’ll fight to break the gridlock on this issue and work to close gun ownership loopholes, strengthen background checks requirements, and encourage gun owners to safely store their firearms. Now more than ever, we need to elect leaders with the courage to act, like Marty Martinez—he’ll always put the safety of his constituents first and fight to save lives across the Commonwealth.

We are proud to endorse Marty Martinez for the Virginia House of Delegates.