# State Board of Equalization, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Shannon Grove or Nelson Esparza for State Board of Equalization, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person is one of four elected members on the board. It works to keep property tax assessments fair and equal. - Jurisdiction: State of California - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/boe-1 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 86 out of 100 (Strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Shannon Grove** — State Senator/Businesswoman · Republican - **Nelson Esparza** — Teacher/Economist/Councilmember · Democratic One of the closest contests on this ballot: Republican Shannon Grove took 34.5% of the June 2 vote and Democrat Nelson Esparza took 34.0%, a gap of half a point. The district covers a large swathe of inland and southern California. The Board of Equalization is much smaller than it used to be. Until 2017 it administered most of California's sales and excise taxes; the Legislature stripped those duties after audits found serious mismanagement, and moved them to two new departments. What remains is oversight of how counties assess property for tax purposes, plus assessment of certain utility and railroad property. It is a four-year term on a five-member board. Because the board's remit is narrow and technical, this race is less about policy direction than about who sits on a body that reviews how your county assesses property values. It is also genuinely close — half a point — and the funding gap runs seven to one the other way. Weigh who you want overseeing property assessment, and note that this is one of the few contests where a small number of votes may decide it. ## Shannon Grove Shannon Grove, a Kern County native, served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, where they say they "witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989" (campaign site). Grove and their sister-in-law later founded Continental Labor and Staffing Resources, where they are CEO (campaign site). They were "the first woman veteran elected to the California Legislature," representing the 34th Assembly District from 2010 to 2016 before moving to the State Senate in 2018, where they were elected Senate Republican leader in January 2019 (campaign site). In 2023 they authored SB 14, which made sex trafficking of a minor a felony in California; it was signed into law (campaign site). Grove casts themselves as a "strong taxpayer advocate" for the Board of Equalization, citing their record opposing tax increases (campaign site). On January 6, 2021, after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, they posted, "Patriots don't act like this !!! This was Antifa" (CapRadio). They deleted the tweet and posted instead that the violence was "unacceptable," adding, "this is not the way to settle differences" (CapRadio). Within two weeks, Grove's fellow Senate Republicans voted Grove out as caucus leader, replacing Grove with Sen. Scott Wilk (CapRadio). Grove promises to stop tax increases and protect Proposition 13, calling for the Board to "reduce burdensome regulations" and help "create jobs" (campaign site). They say the office needs "proven leadership," and their campaign points to support from taxpayer groups, business owners and local elected officials (campaign site). **Strengths:** Nearly a decade and a half in the Legislature, including two years leading the Senate Republican caucus, and one signed law making child sex trafficking a felony. **Trade-offs:** Grove was removed as Senate Republican leader in 2021 after sharing a false claim about who attacked the U.S. Capitol. **Keep in mind:** A half-point margin in June means the primary settled little. Weigh their fifteen years of tax and regulatory positions against the leadership episode from 2021. ## Nelson Esparza Nelson Esparza was "raised by a single teen mother in Madera" and describes himself as "a public educator and true son of the Central Valley" (campaign site). He holds a B.A. in economics from UC Riverside and a Master of Public Policy from UCLA's Luskin School, and has taught economics at Fresno City College for nearly a decade (campaign site). Elected to the Fresno City Council in 2018, he now chairs the council's Finance and Audit Committee, the EIFD Public Financing Authority and a school liaison subcommittee (campaign site). He credits himself with generating "new revenue streams for the city, which are reinvested into repairing outdated infrastructure, expanding park spaces and amenities, and designing roadway improvement projects" (campaign site). He says he is running to "protect the people of California, our values and tax dollars, so that our state can invest in our people" (campaign site). In May 2022, fellow councilmember Garry Bredefeld accused Esparza of threatening to have the city attorney fired unless he worked only with the council majority; Esparza denied it and sued Bredefeld for defamation, calling the accusations "knowingly false" and "made with malice" (ABC30). That July, the Fresno County District Attorney charged Esparza with attempted extortion; he denied directing the city attorney to work only for certain members, saying in court filings he had merely sought "reassurances" about compliance with council resolutions (GV Wire). The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor that November, and in December 2022 the DA dismissed it "in the interest of justice"; Esparza said, "I came into this process a free and innocent man, and am exiting this process the same way" (GV Wire). He promises to prioritize public safety, affordable housing in inner-city neighborhoods, and support for working families, and says infrastructure spending should reach communities like his own in Fresno as much as anywhere else (campaign site). **Strengths:** Nearly eight years on the Fresno City Council, a finance committee chairmanship, and a claimed record of finding new city revenue for infrastructure and parks. **Trade-offs:** He was charged with attempted extortion in 2022 over a dispute with the city attorney. The district attorney dismissed the charge that December. **Keep in mind:** A half-point margin in June means the primary settled little. Weigh his council record and finance expertise against the extortion charge, which never went to trial. ## Financial info - **Shannon Grove** - Primary: $1,052,740 raised (Small donors: $6,811; Individuals: $477,855; PACs & committees: $126,883; Businesses & other orgs: $435,941; Self-funding: $250) - November: $61,800 raised (Individuals: $51,300; PACs & committees: $3,000; Businesses & other orgs: $7,500) - **Nelson Esparza** - Primary: $146,112 raised (Small donors: $145; Individuals: $54,176; PACs & committees: $164,917; Businesses & other orgs: $22,800) - November: $600 raised (Individuals: $600) Figures are CA Form 460 filings through June 30, 2026 by committees controlled by each candidate, and can include transfers from a candidate's earlier committees. Semi-annual reports covering January–June 2026 were due July 31, 2026, so some totals lag a period behind. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-09-21. Total is itemized (Schedule A) contributions and self-funding loans dated after the June 2, 2026 primary, through June 28, 2026 — small-dollar unitemized (under $100) contributions aren't independently dated in Cal-Access's raw export, so they aren't reflected here and this may undercount true small-donor activity since the primary. This also doesn't include money reported only on 24-hour late-contribution reports (Form 497) that haven't yet appeared in a periodic Form 460 filing. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-08-30. ## Review notes - Nelson Esparza for Board of Equalization and Shannon Grove for Board of Equalization may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Shannon Grove for Board of Equalization — campaign site (biography, record, priorities)](https://shannongroveca.com/) 4. [Nelson Esparza for Board of Equalization — campaign site (biography, record, priorities)](https://www.nelsonesparza.com/) 5. [CapRadio — High-ranking California Republican lawmaker pushes misinformation about storming of U.S. Capitol (Grove's Jan. 6 tweet and its aftermath)](https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/01/06/high-ranking-california-republican-lawmaker-pushes-misinformation-about-storming-of-us-capitol/) 6. [ABC30 — Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza sues councilmember Garry Bredefeld for defamation over 'extortion' claims](https://abc30.com/fresno-city-council-nelson-esparze-defamation-lawsuit-garry-bredefeld/11857535/) 7. [GV Wire — Fresno Councilman Charged with Felony Over Alleged Extortion](https://gvwire.com/2022/07/18/fresno-councilman-charged-with-felony-over-alleged-extortion/) 8. [GV Wire — DA Drops Attempted Extortion Charges Against Fresno Council President Esparza](https://gvwire.com/2022/12/05/da-drops-attempted-extortion-charges-against-fresno-council-president-esparza/) 9. [Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State](https://www.sos.ca.gov/campaign-lobbying/helpful-resources/raw-data-campaign-finance-and-lobbying-activity) ## The rest of the ballot State Board of Equalization, District 1 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "State Board of Equalization, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/boe-1 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.