Mel Martinez Biography

Mel Martínez is a Cuban-American lobbyist and former politician who served as a United States Senator from Florida from 2005 to 2009 and as general chairman of the Republican Party from November 2006 until October 19, 2007. Previously, Martínez served as the 12th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George W. Bush. Martínez is a Cuban-American and Roman Catholic. He announced he was resigning as general chairman of the Republican National Committee on October 19, 2007.

Martínez resigned his United States Cabinet post on December 12, 2003, to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Bob Graham. Martínez secured the Republican nomination and narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, Betty Castor. His election made him the first Cuban-American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Furthermore, he and Ken Salazar were the first Hispanic U.S. Senators since 1977. They were joined by a third, Bob Menéndez in January 2006, until Salazar resigned from the Senate on January 20, 2009, to become Secretary of the Interior. On December 2, 2008, Martínez announced he would not be running for re-election to the Senate in 2010.

On August 7, 2009, CNN and the Orlando Sentinel reported that Martínez would be resigning from his Senate seat. Later that month, Governor Charlie Crist announced that he would appoint George LeMieux as the successor to Martínez for the remaining year and a half of the Senate term.

Two weeks after Martínez resigned his Senate seat, The Hill reported that he would become a lobbyist and partner at international firm DLA Piper. He left DLA Piper in August 2010 to become chairman of Chase Bank Florida and its operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Martinez is currently chairman of the Southeast and Latin America for JPMorgan, Chase & Co. Martínez also serves as a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

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