Martinez was elected to the Argentine Chamber of Deputies in 1917 to fill the seat vacated by Vice President Elpidio González.

He was elected Governor of Córdoba in December 1927, with José Antonio Ceballos as Vice-Governor, and took office on May 17, 1928.

The death, on July 22, of Vice President-elect Francisco Beiró, prompted President-elect Hipólito Yrigoyen to ask Martínez to take the late Francisco Beiró's place, and on October 12, 1928, he was inaugurated Vice President of Argentina.

A coup d'état overthrew the Yrigoyen administration the following day, however, and both he and Martínez was jailed for two years.

While riding horseback in Villa María, Córdoba, in 1938, he suffered an accident, and died at age 51.