Nelda Martinez

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Nelda Martinez

Prior offices

Corpus Christi City Council At-large

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Mayor of Corpus Christi

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Report an officeholder change

Education

High school

Mary Carroll High School

Bachelor's

University of Texas, Austin

Other

Del Mar College

Contact

Personal website

Nelda Martinez is a former mayor and at-large city councilmember for Corpus Christi. She served on the city council from 2007 to 2012 and as mayor from 2012 to 2016.

Martinez was defeated by Dan McQueen in her 2016 bid for re-election as mayor. After McQueen resigned from office, she ran unsuccessfully in the May 6, 2017, special election to replace him.

Biography

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Martinez attended Del Mar College and earned a B.A. in government with a minor in Latin American studies from the University of Texas-Austin.

Martinez's professional experience includes work as the cofounder and owner of the real estate holding company 5102 Joint Venture, the president and owner of the asset management company Adlen Enterprises, Inc., the owner of the title company Nueces Title, and the founder and president of the title company First American Closing Office, Inc. Martinez has also served as the president of the Texas Municipal League, the board chair for KEDT Public Television, and a member of the boards of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, the Girl Scouts of South Texas, Foster Angels of South Texas, the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation, the Coastal Bend Council of Governments, the Workforce Solutions Chief Elected Officials Council, the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway, and the I-69 Alliance.

Elections

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Corpus Christi, Texas (2017)

Corpus Christi, Texas held a special election for mayor on May 6, 2017. Former Mayor Dan McQueen, who won election to the position on November 8, 2016, and was sworn in on December 13, 2016, resigned from office in January 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in the special election was March 27, 2017. The following candidates ran in the special election for mayor of Corpus Christi.

Mayor of Corpus Christi, Special Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Joe McComb	52.22%	11,112
Nelda Martinez	30.29%	6,445
Larry White	7.13%	1,518
Mark Di Carlo	3.47%	738
Jonathan Garison	2.99%	636
James Hernandez	1.81%	385
Ray Madrigal	1.59%	339
Margareta Fratila	0.50%	107
Total Votes		21,280
Source: Ballotpedia staff, Email correspondence with Nueces County Elections Department, July 17, 2017

Click [show] on the right for information about other elections in which this candidate ran.

2016 See also: Municipal elections in Corpus Christi, Texas (2016) The city of Corpus Christi, Texas, held elections for mayor and city council on November 8, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 22, 2016. All eight city council seats were up for election. Dan McQueen defeated incumbent Nelda Martinez in the Mayor of Corpus Christi general election. Mayor of Corpus Christi, General Election, 2016 Candidate Vote % Votes Dan McQueen 55.00% 43,677 Nelda Martinez Incumbent 45.00% 35,730 Total Votes 79,407 Source: "Nueces County Elections", "Nueces County 2016 General Election", accessed November 8, 2016 2014 See also: Corpus Christi, Texas municipal elections, 2014 The city of Corpus Christi, Texas held elections for mayor on November 4, 2014. The candidate filing deadline was August 18, 2014. Incumbent Nelda Martinez defeated Dan McQueen, Bob Jones and Lee McGinnis. Mayor of Corpus Christi, General Election, 2014 Candidate Vote % Votes Nelda Martinez Incumbent 51.8% 23,141 Bob Jones 29.6% 13,254 Dan McQueen 13.7% 6,106 Lee McGinnis 4.9% 2,206 Total Votes 44,707 Source: Nueces County Clerk's Office - Official 2014 Election Results

Campaign themes

2017

Martinez's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“	My vision starts with building on our strengths. We have an invaluable deep water port, excellent institutions of higher learning, a growing business community and abundant natural resources. These strengths are attracting new business investment and increased tourism in our city. My vision is to continue the momentum of positive and meaningful growth we have experienced in the last four years with our growing existing industry and new businesses in the global economy. Our long-term water supply has proven to be the catalyst for an unprecedented $40 billion growth. Our long-term water supply equals jobs, and my priority is to continue working toward diversification of our water resources. I will utilize our city’s economic development tools with strategic investments in growth markets where we have a competitive advantage. I will continue to invest in a skilled and educated workforce for good-paying jobs for our families. Equally important, I will continue working on the comprehensive residential streets plan and long-deferred improvements to City facilities and infrastructure. In the last few years, we have invested over a billion dollars in capital improvements, including streets, in order to address over 35 years of deferred maintenance. But there is much more work to be done... CREATING JOBS You deserve a full-time mayor who recognizes the value of good-paying jobs to Corpus Christi families. A voter-approved sales tax known as Type A funding has brought in $9.31 for each $1 invested and created or retained 2,853 jobs since 2004. As Mayor, I will continue to seek out the best strategies for job growth. While supporting our existing industry, the backbone of our community, I also will promote our city and its great resources to corporations across the globe. I will not rest until we bring thousands of new jobs to our city. As your Mayor, I will focus on a future that brings success to all of those who live and work and play in Corpus Christi. IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE My focus for my first four years as your mayor resulted in solutions in addressing a 35-year-old backlog of city infrastructure repairs, street maintenance, inadequate drainage systems, and aging underground utilities. But more work is yet to be done. We are addressing over 40 years of neglect with our water distribution system. As your Mayor, I will continue to lead in addressing infrastructure needs. You can count on my continued commitment to address these challenges head on. ETHICS & INTEGRITY As public servants, it is our job to demand the highest level of integrity. As a council, we work toward the same goal of a successful city. I thank each council member for their sacrifice for service. By working constructively toward unity and in good faith, we can reach our shared goals and benefit all those we are elected to serve. We should be beyond reproach for those whom we serve. Ethics matters. On our ethics policy, I stood up and said “no” to a proposed revision that would have allowed City Council members to contract with the city for business. No public official should ever benefit financially from their office.	”
—Nelda Martinez's campaign website, (2017)

In response to a question from KRIS-TV about her campaign priorities, Martinez said, "We'd build on the strong foundation that we've put into place since [I took office in] 2012. A billion dollars worth of capital but not [before] our team, under my leadership, [worked on it] had it [water quality issues and capital improvements] ever been assessed. How can you know how to move forward if you don't even know what you're up against?"

2014

Martinez's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

Job creation

• Excerpt: "The last few years have been tough on many families in our community. That is why you deserve a mayor who will fight to bring new jobs to Corpus Christi. As mayor, I will promote our city and its great resources to corporations across the globe and will not rest until we bring thousands of good paying jobs to our city. In addition, we must create an entrepreneurial environment where hard work and creativity are allowed to develop into strong businesses. That means removing barriers at City Hall that hamper job growth in Corpus Christi."

Infrastructure

• Excerpt: "Our current infrastructure has reached its limit. It's time we start rebuilding our city from the ground up, and there is no better place to start than with our roads. The longer we wait to improve our city, the harder it will be to convince companies to relocate, costing Corpus Christi much needed jobs. In order to compete for good paying jobs, we need to make sure our roads are fixed and our drainage system works."

Ethics

• Excerpt: "As public servants, it is our job to demand the highest level of integrity. On our Ethics policy, I stood up and said 'no' to city council members contracting with the city for business. Per a Caller-Times article, 'One aspect of the new code was surely improved, thanks to the persistence of City Council Member Nelda Martinez. The initial version would have allowed council members to contract with the city. Martinez dug in her heels, saying that the rule prohibiting council members from holding city contracts has been in place since 1989 and that taking that out, she said, 'weakens (the ordinance); I have a strong concern with taking it out. Why would we make it less strict? We are going the wrong way.' No public official should ever benefit financially from their office.'"

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for "Nelda + Martinez + Corpus Christi"

All stories may not be relevant due to the nature of the search engine.

Nelda Martinez News Feed

See also

Corpus Christi, Texas	Texas	Municipal government	Other local coverage

External links

Suggest a link

• Corpus Christi City Council
• Campaign Website
• Social Media
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Joe Adame	Mayor of Corpus Christi 2012–2016	Succeeded by Dan McQueen
Preceded by -	Corpus Christi City Council, At-large 2007-2012	Succeeded by -