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City of Fresno · Statewide General Election

Fresno City Council, District 3

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, vacated by termed-out-of-this-race Councilmember Miguel Arias (who is instead running for a Fresno Unified school board seat this cycle): Dr. Joaquin Arambula, a sitting California State Assemblymember and emergency-room physician, faces Keshia Thomas, a longtime Fresno Unified educator and former FUSD trustee. Thomas led a multi-candidate June 2, 2026 primary (29.99% to Arambula's 27.6%, 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 3 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 -- Annalisa Perea (District 1), Arias (District 3), and Nelson 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. The county's own candidate list shows Arias filed instead for a Fresno Unified school board seat this same election, occupation listed as "Parent/Councilmember/CEO" -- notable context, not this dataset's claim about his reason for leaving the council.

Joaquin Arambula

A sitting California State Assemblymember (District 31, covering more than 60% of Fresno plus rural Fresno County) since April 2016 and, per his own site, the first Latino physician elected to the Assembly; an emergency-room physician trained in downtown Fresno who then worked at a rural hospital in Selma, CA for nearly a decade. He chaired the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services from 2016 to June 2023 and authored the "Health4All" bills expanding Medi-Cal to undocumented adults. His filed ballot designation is "Doctor/Assemblymember." GV Wire reported that a March 2026 disclosure revealed he had missed a month in the Legislature while in alcohol rehab, and that divorce filings alleged addictions to video games and marijuana. He trailed Thomas in the June primary, 27.6% to 29.99%.

Strengths

a decade of California Assembly service including a budget-subcommittee chairmanship and a signature Medi-Cal-expansion law; a medical career serving a rural, underserved hospital.

Trade-offs

GV Wire's alcohol-rehab and addiction-related disclosures (March 2026) are recent events for voters to weigh; why he is leaving a safe Assembly seat for city council is unconfirmed here.

Keep in mind

per GV Wire, he raised far less than Thomas this period ($539) but spent more than double what she did ($46,948 to $20,788), and trailed her in the June primary.

Keshia Thomas

A 15-year Fresno educator and administrator -- teacher, Careers Program director, and vice principal within Fresno Unified, per her own site, plus prior work as a licensed cosmetologist and grocery-industry supervisor -- and her filed ballot designation is "Fresno Unified School District Trustee," indicating a prior elected term on that school board. She led the June primary, 29.99% to Arambula's 27.6%. GV Wire reported she faces an ongoing defamation lawsuit: Bullard High football coach Don Arax sued her after she publicly accused him, on a 2022 podcast appearance, of using a racial slur against her son; GV Wire reports her account of the incident changed in a 2023 deposition and again under oath in 2025, and that a jury trial was scheduled for later in 2026.

Strengths

15 years of direct Fresno Unified classroom and administrative experience plus a prior elected school-board term, and led the June primary.

Trade-offs

GV Wire's defamation-lawsuit reporting -- a changing account of a serious accusation -- is an unresolved credibility question, independent of her education record.

Keep in mind

she outraised Arambula this period ($11,600 to $539) and held more cash on hand ($14,042 to $11,374) while spending less than half what he did ($20,788 to $46,948).

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: Joaquin Arambula's own campaign site (home and "Meet Dr. Arambula" pages): describes him as an emergency-room physician trained in downtown Fresno who practiced for nearly a decade at a rural hospital in Selma, CA; the first Latino physician elected to the California Assembly, serving District 31 (60-plus percent of Fresno and rural Fresno County) since April 2016 and chairing the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services from 2016 to June 2023; author of the "Health4All" Medi-Cal-expansion bills; a father of three, elected to the Assembly six times. and Keshia Thomas's own campaign site: identifies her as "Advocate Keshia Thomas, M.Ed"; a 15-year Fresno educator (algebra/geometry teacher, 7th-8th grade math instructor, Careers Program director, and vice principal within Fresno Unified, plus prior work as a licensed cosmetologist and grocery-industry supervisor), holding a bachelor's and master's in education plus a teaching and an administrative credential; a mother of three and grandmother of one, and a lifelong Fresno resident. 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
  • drjoaquinarambula.com (opens in a new tab)Joaquin Arambula's own campaign site (home and "Meet Dr. Arambula" pages): describes him as an emergency-room physician trained in downtown Fresno who practiced for nearly a decade at a rural hospital in Selma, CA; the first Latino physician elected to the California Assembly, serving District 31 (60-plus percent of Fresno and rural Fresno County) since April 2016 and chairing the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services from 2016 to June 2023; author of the "Health4All" Medi-Cal-expansion bills; a father of three, elected to the Assembly six times
  • keshiathomasfresnocitycouncil.com (opens in a new tab)Keshia Thomas's own campaign site: identifies her as "Advocate Keshia Thomas, M.Ed"; a 15-year Fresno educator (algebra/geometry teacher, 7th-8th grade math instructor, Careers Program director, and vice principal within Fresno Unified, plus prior work as a licensed cosmetologist and grocery-industry supervisor), holding a bachelor's and master's in education plus a teaching and an administrative credential; a mother of three and grandmother of one, and a lifelong Fresno resident

Last updated September 1, 2026.