Carlos Martínez Mínguez (born 28 June 1973) is a politician of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). He was elected to the city council in Soria in 1999 and has served as mayor since 2007. He was a member of the Cortes of Castile and León from 2003 to 2007. In 2025, he was elected secretary general of the Socialist Party of Castile and León.
Biography.
Born in Soria in Castile and León, Martínez was elected onto his hometown's council in 1999, serving in the administration of mayor Eloísa Álvarez in a coalition government of their Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and two other parties. In 2003, the People's Party (PP) won the mayor's office, and Martínez led the opposition; he was simultaneously a member of the Cortes of Castile and León.
In 2007, 34-year-old Martínez became the youngest mayor of a provincial capital of Castile and León. Having led a minority government in his first term, he won an absolute majority of seats on the council in 2011, retaining it in three further elections despite the emergence of third parties such as Podemos and Citizens in the 2015 elections.
In 2012, Martínez was a spokesperson for Carme Chacón's unsuccessful campaign for the position of secretary generalat the PSOE federal congress. Five years later, he backed Susana Díaz's campaign for the same position; it went to Pedro Sánchez.
Luis Tudanca resigned as leader of the Socialist Party of Castile and León in January 2025 and Martínez succeeded him. He was the only candidate, and new PSOE statutes meant that an unopposed candidate did not need a threshold of signatures or to contest a primary election.