To say that Christian Martin leads a busy life would be something of an understatement.
In addition to completing his studies as a senior majoring in both history and theater at the University of Alabama, serving as vice president of the UA College Democrats, and working on several local Democratic campaigns, the 22-year-old from Northport, Alabama is now running for public office.
Earlier this year, Martin launched his campaign for House District 16, hoping to unseat incumbent State Rep. Bryan Brinyark and flip the seat blue for the first time since the district was drastically redrawn by the Republican-led legislature in 2012.
In a recent phone interview, Martin told APR about the motivations behind his campaign, the issues he’s running on, and what it means to run for public office at only 22 years old.
“I’m running because I’ve seen what 15 years of a Republican supermajority in the state legislature has done for this state, and it’s not been very good things,” Martin told APR. “We’re bottom tier in almost every statistic you can count on–in wages, in wage growth, in maternal death rates, in infant mortality rates, in most education metrics, in the percentage of people on food stamps, like SNAP and EBT, in poverty rate. I see rural hospitals closing every year. That’s why I’m running.”
Martin clarified that he is not running against Brinyark out of any personal animosity. When Martin previously met the representative as a constituent lobbying against SB129, Alabama’s controversial anti-DEI law, he found Brinyark to be “very nice and respectful.”
Martin noted, however, that “nice and respectful does not cut it in our state legislature.”
“We have to look at the issues,” Martin said. “Mr. Brinyark, by and large, votes straight down with [Speaker of the House] Nathaniel Ledbetter and Republican leadership on the issues. He voted, for instance, ‘yes’ on SB129, which has hurt freedom of speech in our state. He votes to take money out of our public schools and put it into voucher programs. He votes with the Republicans to not extend the [overtime tax exemption] that the Democrats successfully passed in the state legislature.”
“He’s not voting with the best interests of Alabama at heart,” Martin continued. “He and the Republican Party are voting with the best interests of the state Republican Party at heart.”
As for the issues at the center of his campaign, Martin shared a sweeping policy platform with APR–one which includes many popular Democratic policies, but with some caveats that Alabamians may not traditionally expect from a candidate with a “D” next to their name. One example is Martin’s approach to gun control.
Martin, who himself is a gun owner, says he wouldn’t support a ban on assault weapons and referred to himself as “pretty pro-gun.” However, he does say he supports “common sense gun laws” that would limit access to firearms for individuals with documented mental health issues and believes in implementing mandatory gun safety education in schools to reduce accidental gun deaths.
Martin’s abortion stance is similarly nuanced. The candidate describes himself as decidedly “pro-life,” but also says he opposes Alabama’s abortion ban in its current form.
“I think we need to reform the state abortion law by allowing exceptions for victims of sexual assault, and I think we need to cut down on the need for abortions, both by taking better care of our mothers [by] expanding that Medicaid window after birth to two to three months, and [by] passing tax credits for child care,” Martin told APR. “Obviously Medicaid expansion would help as well, and then also passing universal pre-K.”
Indeed, Medicaid expansion and universal pre-K are among Martin’s other policy priorities. He emphasized the need for Medicaid expansion in particular as a way to protect Alabama’s endangered rural hospitals.
“I feel very strongly about Medicaid expansion and the importance of saving our rural hospitals,” Martin told APR. “The Kaiser Family Foundation has said at least a third of rural hospitals would be saved with just Medicaid expansion, not to mention the amount of people that are uninsured currently that would then be insured.”
Martin is also in favor of passing gambling legislation–a long-debated issue in the state–specifically to fund public education initiatives.
“I feel very strongly about an education lottery,” Martin said. “I think that would increase a lot of funding to our public schools, not to mention I would look into if we could pass universal trade school and free junior college [or] community college through an education lottery.”
Another area of concern for Martin is the influence of money and lobbying in state elections. He says he would like to see the state “clamp down and ban private companies and corporations from donating to campaigns.” Martin also believes that any utility company regulated by the Alabama Public Service Commission should be banned from lobbying state officials.
There are other checks Martin believes the state should place on private corporations as well.
“I’m a big believer in helping to protect the state from predatory private equity firms and predatory coastal elites,” Martin told APR. “If you go to most rural North Alabama counties, their number one export is timber, and the main landowners in these counties for timber land, they’re not from Alabama. They’re big corporations from New York or even from other countries like the Netherlands. And so I’m a big believer in passing a timber tax with tax credit options. If the company’s headquartered in Alabama, they get tax credits off of the increase in the timber tax.”
“But raising that timber tax to put some pressure on out-of-state companies, because it’s Alabama land… it’s for the people,” he added. “Alabama’s people should be getting a chunk of the revenue–we should be seeing some of that money. It shouldn’t be going straight to the Yankees, straight to New York or Massachusetts.”
Additionally, Martin opposes Alabama’s anti-union “right-to-work” law and is in favor of outlawing captive audience meetings for workers in the state.
Martin also supports ending Alabama’s grocery tax and cutting the state sales tax. To offset the loss in state revenue that would accompany those policies, Martin proposed instituting a new, higher income tax bracket for the “very wealthiest Alabamians.”
“Income taxes are progressive,” Martin stated. “Sales taxes are a regressive tax that hurt the poor the most.”
To that same end, Martin emphasized his support for reinstating the overtime tax exemption that expired last year under Republican leadership. Martin would also like to see all tips–cash or card–exempted from Alabama’s income tax.
Martin also said he wants to decriminalize marijuana in Alabama and reduce overcrowding in state prisons by releasing individuals convicted on nonviolent marijuana charges.
At only 22 years old, Martin would be among the youngest lawmakers in Alabama history if elected to office. While some may look at Martin’s age and question if he has the requisite experience to serve in the state legislature, Martin argues that he is far more attuned to the needs and concerns of everyday Alabamians than many of those currently serving in Montgomery.
“We need a change in the legislature,” Martin told APR. “These experienced folks–including folks like Mr. Ledbetter that have experience in both parties–you’ve seen what they’ve done to our state, right? It’s time for a change. It’s time for energy, youth, and new ideas. And I bring that to the table.”
“Right now, people can talk about my inexperience and my youth, but there are folks in the state legislature that probably have never worked a day in their life,” he continued. “I come from a working class family. I worked my way through school. I pay my bills and I probably have more in common with the average, everyday person in the district than a lot of people do in their districts in the state legislature. And so I would just say, I know the trials and travails of the common man in Alabama. And the common man is also ready for a change, and we need a change in Montgomery.”
Martin also emphasized that while he has yet to serve in public office, he does already have a sizable resume as a volunteer and organizer.
“I’m no novice, I understand politics,” Martin said. “I’ve served on multiple political organizations’ boards. Hell, I’ve helped organize a protest of over 1,500 people along with a lot of other wonderful people such as [vice chair of the Alabama Democratic Party] Tabitha Isner and [UA College Democrats president] Sam McKinney… I’ve volunteered as volunteer staff on many a campaign…. So I’m no spring chicken when it comes to politics. I might be a spring chicken in age, but this isn’t my first time in the political realm.”
Martin concluded our conversation with a message to the voters of District 16, urging them to consider supporting him even if they don’t traditionally vote Democrat.
“I encourage voters in the district–maybe they aren’t necessarily used to voting Democrat or maybe they remember voting Democrat in the ’80s and ’90s but had stopped–to think about coming on home, or at least splitting their ticket, because our Democratic Party’s platform in the state legislature, and my platform, it’s for the common man,” Martin said. “It’s to lower the tax burden on Alabamians by ending grocery taxes. It’s for unions. It’s not about all these cultural issues–because they try and nationalize elections and make it about national issues–but the state legislature is what really affects most people’s everyday lives.”
“And so look at the platforms and see what would get the most benefit for you in your everyday life, and I guarantee it’s going to be the Democratic Party’s platform in this state,” he added. “And I guarantee–as much as I respect Mr. Brinyark as a fine family man and a good Christian fellow–my platform is going to be the platform that helps the everyday Alabamian in their everyday life the most.”
With Martin running unopposed on the Democratic ticket, he and Brinyark are set to face off head-to-head in November’s general election.
