Meet Cole
Cole Marting is a conservative leader, wildfire policy author, and lifelong public servant. He’s running for North County Fire Protection District to protect lives and property, restore trust in local government, and ensure that when crisis strikes, North County is ready.
Cole has spent 19 years of his life in North County, where he developed a deep respect for the land, the people, and the values that define this community. Raised in a family that believed in hard work and helping others, Cole began serving early, whether volunteering at church, organizing community, or knocking doors for local campaigns. He’s never stopped showing up for his neighbors.
He attended UC Santa Barbara, where he experienced the devastating 2018 Montecito mudslides firsthand. After wildfires stripped the hills bare, rains came and turned entire neighborhoods into rivers of mud. Cole was evacuated in the middle of the night, an experience that opened his eyes to California’s growing disaster crisis and sparked his lifelong mission to fix it.
It was also at UCSB that Cole met his future wife, Hayley. They fell in love and moved to Washington, D.C., where they worked together on national issues. There, they saw how broken the system had become, but they also realized something deeper:
“Yes, things were broken in D.C., but they were even more broken back home. And if we weren’t willing to fight for California, who would?”
After COVID, Cole and Hayley came back home to North County, not just to be near family, but to fight for California’s future. Together, they made a commitment to public service, rooted in faith, community, and action.
Today, Cole works at a nonprofit focused on solving challenges in the property insurance industry, especially in the aftermath of wildfires and natural disasters. He also serves on multiple nonprofit boards, contributes to the SDUT’s Community Voices Project, and owns a small rental property in Bonsall, giving him firsthand experience with the challenges facing homeowners, renters, and small businesses.
Cole’s commitment to public safety isn’t theoretical, it’s personal. In early 2025, he sat in his Fallbrook living room at 2:00 a.m., watching three separate fires burn across the 15 and wondering if his family would need to evacuate. That night underscored what he already knew: North County needs proactive leadership, not reactionary politics.
It’s why he wrote California’s Toughest Challenges and the Common Sense Conservative Ways to Solve Them, and why he’s running to deliver solutions rooted in conservative values, local control, and strong public safety infrastructure.
“Conservative and conservation share the same root for a reason. Stewardship of our land isn’t just smart policy, it’s a moral obligation.”
Cole believes that being a conservative means being a good steward, of our land, our resources, and our shared future. That means cutting red tape, managing brush, investing in our first responders, and preparing for emergencies before they happen.
He’s a husband, neighbor, activist and public servant with the real-world experience to lead and the heart to serve.
Cole and Hayley live in Fallbrook, where they enjoy giving back to the community that gave them so much. They’re building a future rooted in faith, family, and service, and they’re committed to protecting North County for the next generation.