“(Primary night) was really just a time to be thankful to the supporters, to the people that put their trust in me and just being thankful for the opportunity," Martus said.

While the results didn't roll in until 2 a.m. and the campaign couldn't call the victory until 3:30 a.m., Martus still recalls that moment with intense thankfulness for everything that led his campaign to this.

When the opportunity came to Martus to run for office, he knew that he needed to see the path to victory in front of him. He set the goal to be the hardest working person in the race.

“We kind of put together a campaign plan that was really focused on the robustness of door knocking with as much presence as possible," Martus said. "I knocked over 15,000 doors. I lost 20 pounds and walked the equivalent of from Detroit to pass the Florida border and that's because I knew that the only way that you win is if you just donate all of your time, your energy, your soul to being able to be out there.”

The campaign's main focus was to go door to door every day of the week as well setting a mail plan to make sure their beliefs were plastered across the community. Martus said that he was able to get support from elected officials and union leaders not because he had money or a fancy last name, but because he worked harder for them than they expected.

“We had an understanding of what was on people's minds," Martus said. "When I was working at the State House, I worked on some legislation to repeal the retirement tax and the pension. That was something that was interesting to me, and was something that I thought was important but I didn't know how important that was to people until knocking on thousands of doors. When I would ask, what was on your mind, it was repealing the pension tax and I was able to say that, I actually worked on the legislation.”

However, Martus has also been able lucky enough to be born into a family that was always influential in the community, personally and professionally.

“What I said at the very beginning is what carried us through the campaign, that every person has a story, and every person deserves to have that story be heard," Martus said. "My family's lived in the district for over a century, so almost any community I went to in the district, oftentimes it wasn't me having to introduce myself. It was finding those family connections. When I knocked in the Hamady School District, my grandpa taught there for 42 years. When I knocked in the Beecher School District, my parents did some programs there.”

On the door-to-door trail, Martus met a man who remembered Martus' great grandfather helping him fix his car all the way back in the 50s. Others would tell him that he reminded them of his grandmother who taught in their district. One man told him his grandmother had inspired him to be a writer 40 years after she taught him at eight years old. Martus loved hearing how his family had affected the community, wanting to have the same impact.

“Finding those people who knew my grandparents or knew my parents meant a lot, but it also meant that my feet were going to be held to the fire," Martus said. "That is not just numbers on a page that I'm representing, but the people that I looked in the eyes that took me into their lives. What I always asked people was, ‘How can Michigan be doing better for you?’”

While the campaign had to send everyone home from their primary party due to the late results, Martus planned for his first remarks to be thanks to his family. He explained that to successfully run for office, you have to take your ego out of it and assess what factors you were blessed with to help your campaign like the reputation his family created of being kind and caring to the whole community.

Continuing his campaign for the general election, Martus does not plan to lose the safely Democratic seat as well as another twenty pounds before November. He instead will be helping campaign for other Democrats down the ballot such as Congressman Kildee and Gov. Whitmer, as well as reminding the public of his legislative points such as allocating ARPA and infrastructure funds for a community that he believes has been overlooked for a long time.

“What I told folks was a lot of people in my community had a healthy skepticism of people running for office, and when they would ask what I could do for them, I tell them, it's not sexy," Martus said. "It's not what fits on a bumper sticker. The biggest difference a State Rep can make is making sure that a community has an advocate in the room in Lansing, and when money is being spent, and when the appropriations process is taking place, making sure that our community is getting those funds.”

He explained that he cannot reverse decades of underinvestment overnight, but he can start by allocating funds to bring back jobs to Genesee County dealing with renewable energy and education, wanting to change the trajectory of the jobs that moved due to the water systems in the suburbs of Flint. Martus plans on pursuing this with the same dedication he used to win the primary.

“From a strategic standpoint, the reason why we won was … I would not be outworked," Martus said. "I quit my job. I gave up an apartment. I lost a relationship. I did all of those things not because of any specific reason, except that I knew that if I wanted to win, it would be all my time, my energy, and my life. I think that work ethic was why we won.”

Emma Young, a staffer on his campaign who has known Martus since their first day of college classes, helped him canvass for the campaign, spreading these ideals of his determination.

“His dedication is just unmatched and I think he is the main reason that he [won] …I would also say just the support that he received from his family and other people within the community was amazing," Young said. "There were so many people who weren't regular staff on the campaign, but just volunteers who wanted to come in, write letters to other people within the community to drum up support for Jasper or to… host fundraisers.”

Young said that the primary win made the labor of campaigning so worth it. She is excited to see what he can do in state politics and what new legislation and ideas he is going to bring.

Retired James Madison College professor Rod Phillips was elated, but not surprised to hear of his former student and current friend's primary win.

“Jaz has always impressed me as the sort of person who would do well at anything he sets his mind to, including politics," Phillips said. "Early on in the course I taught him, he struck me as an outstanding communicator and an excellent listener, and his performance in class discussions was uniformly excellent.  It was clear that he possessed a strong intellectual curiosity, and when he engaged in classroom discussion, he was doing it to learn from others and not just to hear his own voice.”

Phillips explained that his favorite part of his friendship with Martus is him being a constant source of surprises, whether it be Martus showing up to his door during the pandemic with his El Azteco when Phillips and his wife could not leave their house, Martus phoning him to tell him about his new friendship with Beto O' Rourke, or his biggest surprise yet: running for State Representative.

Phillips cannot imagine another candidate more well-suited to represent in the House, being principled, intelligent, energetic, and fair-minded.

“I’m sure that some people have pointed to his youth as a liability, but I think it may be an asset," Phillips said. "At a time when all three branches of the Federal government seem dominated by voices from another era, I think a guy like Jaz should be a welcome addition to the political discussion.  He has a strong dose of what President Obama called ‘the audacity of hope’ —a willingness to believe that there are political solutions to the problems we face.”

Martus explains that his win is due to his being willing to show up for his constituents, commenting that many of the people he spoke to have never had a politician knock on their door in their life. He wants to prove in the general election that he has something he can offer them.

“My pitch to folks is that sometimes people want to go with the more experienced candidate," Martus said. "Other times they want to go with … the younger candidate and our candidacy is unique because I've done the work, but I'm also offering a fresh perspective that I think is sorely needed.”