# Fresno City Council, District 3

Compare records and positions simply between Joaquin Arambula or Keshia Thomas for Fresno City Council, District 3 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of Fresno's seven district-elected City Council seats. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Fresno is California's fifth-largest city, with about 555,600 residents. Fresno's Mayor is elected separately under the city's strong-mayor charter. The Mayor is not on this cycle's ballot. This seat is open. None of the cycle's three sitting district incumbents filed to run again.

- Jurisdiction: City of Fresno
- 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/fresno-council-3
- 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: October 6, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 81 out of 100 (Strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Joaquin Arambula** — Doctor/Assemblymember
- **Keshia Thomas** — Fresno Unified School District Trustee

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

This is an open seat. Councilmember Miguel Arias is termed out of this race. He is instead running for a Fresno Unified school board seat this cycle. Dr. Joaquin Arambula is a sitting California State Assemblymember and an emergency-room physician. He faces Keshia Thomas, a longtime Fresno Unified educator and former FUSD trustee. Thomas led a multi-candidate primary on June 2, 2026. She took 29.99% to Arambula's 27.6%, per GV Wire. The top two meet here in the November 3, 2026 general. 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. They vote on 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

Arambula has served in the California State Assembly since April 2016. His District 31 covers more than 60% of Fresno plus rural Fresno County. His own site says he is the first Latino physician elected to the Assembly. He is an emergency-room physician who trained in downtown Fresno. He 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. He authored the "Health4All" bills expanding Medi-Cal to undocumented adults. His filed ballot designation is "Doctor/Assemblymember." GV Wire reported on a March 2026 disclosure. It revealed he had missed a month in the Legislature while in alcohol rehab. GV Wire also reported that divorce filings alleged addictions to video games and marijuana. He trailed Thomas in the June primary, 27.6% to 29.99%. In his Vote411 questionnaire he describes ten years as Assemblymember and as budget chair of the Assembly health and human services subcommittee, with work to expand health care, train more doctors and nurses and establish a Valley medical school. By his own account he helped secure funding for the West Fresno Community College center, the Monarch @ Chinatown housing project and downtown water, sewer and street rebuilding.

His three stated priorities are poverty, where he points to funding for the West Fresno campus, workforce training, health care access and a permitting law to speed housing, and says high-speed rail should not displace longtime residents; housing and neighborhoods, with safer routes to school, better roads and transit, more homes at every price, down-payment help for first-time buyers and code enforcement against landlords; and representing District 3's unmet needs, including senior care, youth workforce programs, small businesses, clean air and safe drinking water.

**Strengths:** Ten years in the Assembly, including chairing a health and human services budget subcommittee, and by his own account state funding secured for District 3 projects.

**Trade-offs:** GV Wire's alcohol-rehab and addiction-related disclosures from March 2026 are recent events for voters to weigh. Why he is leaving a safe Assembly seat for city council is unconfirmed.

**Keep in mind:** per GV Wire, he raised far less than Thomas this period, just $539. But he spent more than double what she did, $46,948 to $20,788. He also trailed her in the June primary. The funding results he cites are his own account in a candidate questionnaire.

## Keshia Thomas

Thomas has 15 years as a Fresno educator and administrator. Her own site says she was a teacher, a Careers Program director, and a vice principal within Fresno Unified. She also worked as a licensed cosmetologist and a grocery-industry supervisor. Her filed ballot designation is "Fresno Unified School District Trustee." That indicates 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. She had publicly accused him of using a racial slur against her son. She made that accusation on a 2022 podcast appearance. GV Wire reports her account of the incident changed in a 2023 deposition and again under oath in 2025. GV Wire also reports that a jury trial was scheduled for later in 2026. In her Vote411 questionnaire she describes election to the Fresno Unified board in 2018, representing the Edison region, and reelection in 2022, plus service as an assistant director of a homeless ministry and of children's church at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

Her priorities answer is three words: housing and homelessness, public safety, economics. Her background answer adds a longer focus list that includes roads, sidewalks and traffic signals, workforce and career development, transportation, and youth and family opportunities.

**Strengths:** 15 years of Fresno Unified classroom and administrative work and two elected school-board terms, 2018 and 2022, by her own account.

**Trade-offs:** GV Wire reported a changing account of a serious accusation in the defamation lawsuit. That is an unresolved credibility question. It stands apart from her education record.

**Keep in mind:** she outraised Arambula this period, $11,600 to $539. She held more cash on hand, $14,042 to $11,374. She spent less than half what he did, $20,788 to $46,948. Her priorities answer is three words, so her stated plans rest on her longer background answer.

## Review notes

- 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.

## Sources

1. [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](https://www2.fresnocountyca.gov/2850/post/2026NOV/CandidateList.pdf)
2. [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](https://www2.fresnocountyca.gov/2850/post/2026NOV/Contests%20on%20Ballot%20with%20Qualified%20Candidates.pdf)
3. [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)](https://www.fresno.gov/citycouncil/)
4. [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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno,_California)
5. [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](https://gvwire.com/2026/08/what-does-the-money-say-about-fresno-city-council-races/)
6. [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](https://www.drjoaquinarambula.com)
7. [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](https://www.keshiathomasfresnocitycouncil.com)
8. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Fresno City Council Member, District 3' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- top three priorities and qualifying background. Both candidates answered; Keshia Thomas's priorities answer is three bare words. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/fresno-council-3.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote)

## The rest of the ballot

Fresno City Council, District 3 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, "Fresno City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/fresno-council-3 (sources last retrieved October 6, 2026).

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