Mark Martin (Arkansas politician)

Mark Martin
File:Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin.png
33rd Secretary of State of Arkansas
Incumbent
Assumed office January 11, 2011
Governor	Mike Beebe Asa Hutchinson
Preceded by	Charlie Daniels
Member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from the 87th district
In office January 2005 – January 11, 2011
Preceded by	???
Succeeded by	Justin Harris
Personal details
Born	Mark Russell Martin (1968-02-18) February 18, 1968 Kansas City, Kansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Sharon Marie Tilley
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Religion	Baptist

Mark Russell Martin (born February 18, 1968) is the Republican Secretary of State of Arkansas, a statewide position which he assumed in January 2011. He is a former three-term member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from District 87 in Washington County in northwestern Arkansas.

Background

A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Martin was reared in the Mississippi River delta country of eastern Arkansas. He graduated from Hughes High School in Hughes in St. Francis County. In 1998, he received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.While in the United States Navy, Martin was a nuclear engineering laboratory technician. He since held numerous technology-oriented positions in private industry prior to the launching of his political career.

Martin and his wife, the former Sharon Marie Tilley (also born 1968), have two daughters and one son. The family attends Legacy Baptist Church of Northwest Arkansas in Rogers. The Martins reside in Prairie Grove in Washington County though his duties often keep him in the capital city of Little Rock.

Political life

Martin was first elected to the Arkansas House in 2004, when he defeated the Democrat Lloyd D. Keck of West Fork in Washington County, 5,738 (55.2 percent) to 4,667 (44.8 percent).As a legislator, Martin served on the Budget, Insurance & Commerce, Education, and Advanced Communication & Information Technology committees and was the chairman of the Economic & Tax Policy Committee. He was one of the first legislative bloggers in Arkansas, writing about his experience through a blog he called "Off the Marble".

In the 2010 general election, Representative Martin defeated the Democrat Pat O'Brien, 392,468 (51.3 percent) to 372,123 (48.7 percent), to win the secretary of state's position vacated by Charlie Daniels, a term-limited Arkansas Democrat.He was reelected in 2014, defeating former State Election Commissioner Susan Inman of Little Rock with almost 64 percent of the vote.

As Secretary of State, Martin is the chairman of the Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners and the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission. He is a member of the Arkansas Board of Apportionment. A past board member of several engineering organizations, he also holds membership in the National Rifle Association and the American Legion. He is a member of the Association of Christian Design Professionals.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Charlie Daniels	Secretary of State of Arkansas 2011–present	Incumbent