Martha Sonato was born in Michoacán, Mexico. In 2000, Martha migrated with her family to Hood River, Oregon where her parents are currently farmworkers. In 2015, Martha became the first in her family to earn a Bachelor’s degree from Willamette University.
Since then, Martha has worked in Governor Kate Brown’s office as a housing and human services policy assistant and as a legislative aide in Senator Sara Gelser’s office. In 2016, Martha joined Accion Politica PCUNista, PCUN’s electoral arm and led a series of electoral victories including running a parallel campaign to elect Representative Teresa Alonso Leon, the first immigrant and indigenous woman to represent House District 22; electing the first Latinx majority school board in Oregon right in Woodburn; passing 620 million bond dollars for Salem-Keizer school district; and re-electing progressive leaders like Kate Brown.
In January 2019, Martha became the new political director for PCUN. She is passionate about building a representative democracy and equitable policies for underserved communities.