John J. Marty (born November 1, 1956) is a member of the Minnesota Senate, representing District 40,[1] which includes parts of Ramsey County in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area.

He won the DFL nomination and the Democratic primary but lost the general election to the incumbent governor, Arne Carlson.

After his election to the Minnesota Senate in 1986, Marty became a member of the board of directors of the National Youth Leadership Council.

He was the DFL nominee, winning its primary by two percentage points over former state commerce commissioner and future attorney general Mike Hatch (the other candidates were Richard T. Van Bergen and former Minneapolis Police Chief Tony Bouza.)

On February 2, 2010, Marty finished in fourth place in a precinct caucus straw poll with 9.5% of the vote, behind Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak and Speaker of the Minnesota House Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who each received more than 20%.

[2] When the national Democratic Party was picking its 2004 presidential nominee, Marty joined State Senate Majority Leader John Hottinger in endorsing Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

[12] Among Marty's ethics legislation was the Minnesota law banning lobbyists from giving gifts to public officials.

He also authored the ban on mercury in consumer products, creation of public benefit corporations as an alternative form of business enterprise, authorization for nurses to dispense oral contraceptives in family planning clinics, significant restrictions on special interest money in politics, and numerous DWI and public safety laws.

On LGBTQ rights, Marty was pushing for equality in early 1990s amid of strong public support for DOMA.

Marty introduced marriage equality legislation in 2008 and publicly said that despite the position's unpopularity, he thought it could pass within five years, which turned out to be true.