Martine Watkins, born in June 1980, became the first biracial mayor of Santa Cruz City, California, in 2020 and served a four-year term. Watkins grew up in Santa Cruz and is the daughter of two educators, Michael Watkins, the former Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools and the first African American elected to that position in the State of California, and Anne Watkins, a former Santa Cruz and Harbor High School history teacher. Mayor Watkins has lived in Santa Cruz since she was 2 months old. She and her husband, Brandon, who is also an educator, are raising their daughters in Santa Cruz.
Mayor Watkins received her bachelor’s degree in legal studies from California State University, Monterey Bay, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute of Public Policy at California State University. She has spent her career serving the public in education and on the Santa Cruz City Council. Watkins has worked for the Santa Cruz Office of Education for approximately 17 years, where she uses grant writing and community organizing skills to help students thrive.
Watkins has served on numerous county and local government committees, including the Santa Cruz Housing Blueprint Recommendations, the 2×2 Homelessness City/County Coordination Committee, the City/City Schools Committee, the Community Programs Committee, and the Health in All Policies Committee. She also served on the city’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women for four years, beginning in 2009.
In 2016, Watkins first ran for City Council to promote climate change resiliency for the community and a preventative approach to health and wellness issues. She was re-elected to her second term for City Council in 2020, receiving the second-highest number of votes of the nine candidates running for office. During her second term, she was elected as mayor by a vote of the City Council members to serve a four-year term.
Mayor Watkins is a strong advocate for climate adaptation, champions the Health in All Policies initiative to improve the health of the Santa Cruz community, and has organized the Tobacco Use Prevention and Education Program in Santa Cruz County school districts. She actively bridges her policy work and education programming on tobacco waste and its impact on the watershed to further her passion for ocean conservation.
In 2019, Watkins represented the City of Santa Cruz at the United States Conference of Mayors, where she and the Honorable Tom Butt, Mayor of Richmond, California, co-sponsored a resolution for formal adoption that supports cities’ rights and efforts to mitigate damage from climate change and protect taxpayers from related costs.
Mayor Watkins is currently a senior community organizer with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and serves on the board of directors for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Foundation.