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City of Fresno · Statewide General Election

Fresno City Council, District 1

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of Fresno's seven district-elected City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for California's fifth-largest city, home to roughly 555,600 residents. Fresno's Mayor is elected separately under the city's strong-mayor charter and is not on this cycle's ballot. This seat is open: none of the cycle's three sitting district incumbents filed to keep their council seats.

An open seat: Naindeep Singh, a Central Unified School Board trustee and nonprofit executive, faces Rob Fuentes, a civil-rights attorney and State Center Community College District board president. Singh led a multi-candidate June 2, 2026 primary (38.69% to Fuentes's 36.52%, per GV Wire); the top two meet here in the November 3, 2026 general, where whoever gets more votes wins outright.

This person would hold Fresno's District 1 seat on a 7-member, district-elected City Council under the city's strong-mayor charter: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for California's fifth-largest city, home to roughly 555,600 residents. Fresno's Mayor (Jerry Dyer) is elected separately and isn't on this cycle's ballot. This dataset found no source confirming this seat's exact term length or the city's council term-limit provision; GV Wire's own reporting mentions that Council President Nelson Esparza has proposed expanding the current limit, which at least confirms some limit exists today.

None of this cycle's three sitting district incumbents -- Perea (District 1), Miguel Arias (District 3), and Esparza (District 7) -- filed to keep their council seat, per the county's own filing record, so all three of Fresno's Nov. 2026 council races are open seats rather than incumbent contests.

Naindeep Singh

A sitting Central Unified School Board trustee; his own campaign site says he has overseen a $300 million public-school budget and authored statewide legislation expanding bilingual services, and describes nonprofit and workers'-rights advocacy including action against wage theft. His filed ballot designation is "Nonprofit Director/Trustee." He led the June primary, 38.69% to Fuentes's 36.52%. His platform centers on capping utility-rate increases, stopping evictions, funding youth-workforce pathways, and a "Fresno First" policy directing city spending locally.

Strengths

current elected experience on the Central Unified board, plus hands-on nonprofit budget and worker-advocacy work; led the June primary by roughly two points.

Trade-offs

this dataset found no independent reporting evaluating his record on the Central Unified board -- the budget-oversight and legislative claims come from his own campaign site.

Keep in mind

per GV Wire, he raised less than Fuentes this period ($5,100 to $14,850) but spent nearly $80,000, leaving him with far more cash on hand heading into the fall ($34,463 to Fuentes's $6,365) -- a reserve built before this period, not new fundraising.

Rob Fuentes

President of the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees and a San Joaquin College of Law instructor; his own site describes him as a civil-rights attorney and lifelong Fresno resident, while GV Wire's reporting describes him as a former federal prosecutor -- this dataset found both descriptions but could not reconcile them into a single employment history. His filed ballot designation is "Educator/College Trustee." GV Wire reported that Fresnoland found he represented U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in habeas corpus cases while telling Fresnoland he would support abolishing the agency, and that he left that work in early July 2026 after being placed on leave by the Trump administration. He trailed Singh in the June primary, 36.52% to 38.69%.

Strengths

elected experience as SCCCD board president, a law-school teaching post, and broader institutional donor support this period, including from sitting Council President Esparza.

Trade-offs

GV Wire's ICE-representation-while-advocating-abolition story, and his leave of absence, is a real tension in his record against his civil-rights-law background.

Keep in mind

he outraised Singh this period ($14,850 to $5,100) but had far less cash on hand heading into the fall ($6,365 to $34,463) after spending $35,000.

Source review: Strong (82/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Rob Fuentes's own campaign site: describes him as a lifelong Fresno resident and civil-rights attorney who serves as President of the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees and teaches at San Joaquin College of Law; states his District 1 platform as cost of living, public safety, and economic development. and Naindeep Singh's own campaign site: describes him as a Fresno-raised educator and nonprofit leader, a sitting Central Unified School Board trustee who says he has managed a $300 million public-school budget and authored statewide bilingual-services legislation, plus nonprofit and workers'-rights (anti-wage-theft) advocacy; states his District 1 platform as capping utility-rate increases, stopping evictions, youth workforce-development investment, and a "Fresno First" local-spending policy. may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR009 "Candidate List" for the Nov. 3, 2026 Consolidated Statewide General Election (printed 8/12/2026 5:37:13PM, post-filing-deadline): lists Fresno's three City Council district contests (5061, 5063, 5067), each Vote For 1 with exactly two qualified candidates -- Naindeep Singh ("Nonprofit Director/Trustee") and Rob Fuentes ("Educator/College Trustee") for District 1; Joaquin Arambula ("Doctor/Assemblymember") and Keshia Thomas ("Fresno Unified School District Trustee") for District 3; Nav Gurm ("Attorney/Small Businessman") and Ariana Martinez Lott ("Small Business Owner") for District 7 -- and carries each candidate's filed campaign website
  • www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR001 "Contest/Candidate Proof List," filtered to Contests on Ballot, for the Nov. 3, 2026 election (printed 8/18/2026 8:39:55AM): independently confirms all three Fresno City Council district contests as ON BALLOT, and separately lists each seat's incumbent-of-record as not among the two November candidates -- Annalisa Perea (District 1, Elected), Miguel Angel Arias (District 3, Elected), and Nelson Esparza (District 7, Elected) -- confirming all three are open seats. Candidate statement filing dates for all six November candidates fall between 8/06/2026 and 8/07/2026
  • fresno.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Fresno -- City Council page: names the sitting 7-member Council by district -- Annalisa Perea (District 1), Mike Karbassi (District 2), Miguel Arias (District 3), Tyler Maxwell (District 4), Brandon Vang (District 5), Nick Richardson (District 6), and Nelson Esparza (District 7, Council President)
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Fresno, California article: population 542,107 (2020 census), estimated 555,549 (2025); confirms Fresno's "Strong Mayor" form of government with Jerry Dyer as the sitting Mayor and Georgeanne White as City Manager
  • gvwire.com (opens in a new tab)GV Wire (a Fresno-based nonprofit newsroom) -- "What Does the Money Say About Fresno City Council Races?" by Edward Smith (published 8/4/2026, fetched and read directly): reviews each of the six November candidates' FPPC campaign-finance filings for the May 17-June 30, 2026 period, reports each candidate's June 2, 2026 primary vote share, and covers each candidate's biographical background including two documented controversies -- Joaquin Arambula's March 2026 alcohol-rehab and divorce-filing disclosures, and Keshia Thomas's ongoing defamation lawsuit -- plus, for Rob Fuentes, a summary of Fresnoland's separate reporting on his ICE-related legal work and subsequent administrative leave
  • naindeepsingh.com (opens in a new tab)Naindeep Singh's own campaign site: describes him as a Fresno-raised educator and nonprofit leader, a sitting Central Unified School Board trustee who says he has managed a $300 million public-school budget and authored statewide bilingual-services legislation, plus nonprofit and workers'-rights (anti-wage-theft) advocacy; states his District 1 platform as capping utility-rate increases, stopping evictions, youth workforce-development investment, and a "Fresno First" local-spending policy
  • robfuentes.com (opens in a new tab)Rob Fuentes's own campaign site: describes him as a lifelong Fresno resident and civil-rights attorney who serves as President of the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees and teaches at San Joaquin College of Law; states his District 1 platform as cost of living, public safety, and economic development

Last updated September 1, 2026.