# Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7 — Fresno County Compare records and positions simply between Jeff Hammerschmidt and 1 more for Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7 — Fresno County at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. A countywide seat on the Fresno County Superior Court, the state trial court (6-year term). - Jurisdiction: Fresno County - 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-judge-office-7 - 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: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Jeff Hammerschmidt** - **Jose L. Salazar** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Jeff Hammerschmidt led the June 2 primary with 48.9% and Jose L. Salazar took 35.6%. Hammerschmidt fell just under the majority that would have won the seat outright, so the two meet again on November 3. This is a nonpartisan countywide seat. A Superior Court judge serves a six-year term on California's trial court — the court where criminal cases, family law, probate, small claims and most civil disputes are actually decided. One judge's rulings affect thousands of people a year, and judicial elections draw far less attention than the stakes warrant. Judges may be reappointed or re-elected for decades, so a six-year term is often the start of a much longer tenure. Unlike the other Fresno judicial contest on this ballot, this one offers a genuine difference in professional perspective: one candidate has worked both sides of the courtroom, the other is a public defender. That distinction is the clearest documented basis for a choice here, since judicial ethics limit what either may say about how they would rule. ## Jeff Hammerschmidt Jeff Hammerschmidt has practiced law for 38 years: as an associate at McCormick Barstow, across several units of the Fresno County District Attorney's Office including homicide, and later at the Fresno City Attorney's Office (GV Wire). In the 1990s they prosecuted Dana Ewell in "the high-profile, triple homicide" case, one of the county's best-known prosecutions (GV Wire). Judicial ethics rules limit what a candidate can say about how they would rule. Asked about sentencing, Hammerschmidt said, "It is a violation of the ethics law for a judicial candidate to answer this question," adding, "The factors I will use in sentencing are addressed in the law and include the mitigating and aggravating factors set forth in the California Rules of Court" (GV Wire). Beyond applying those statutory sentencing factors, they offer little else, consistent with the ethics rules that limit what any judicial candidate may promise before taking the bench. **Strengths:** 38 years in law as both prosecutor and defense attorney, including the county's best-known triple-homicide prosecution in the 1990s. **Trade-offs:** Judicial ethics rules keep Hammerschmidt from saying how they would rule, so this profile rests on career background, not promises. **Keep in mind:** Judicial ethics rules limit what any candidate may say about future rulings, so weigh career record more than promises here. ## Jose L. Salazar Jose L. Salazar is a public defender with more than a decade of criminal law experience, currently a senior defense attorney with the Fresno County Public Defender's Office on its Major Crimes Team, which handles the office's most serious cases (GV Wire). Judicial ethics rules limit what a candidate can say about how they would rule. Salazar says, "The law provides a clear framework for sentencing. I will apply that framework to each case individually, ensuring decisions are fair, consistent, and grounded in the law" (GV Wire). As a defense attorney, they argue the side of the courtroom that this race would otherwise not offer at all. Salazar promises to apply that same sentencing framework "to each case individually." On the county's new eCourt filing system, they say, "I think the new system is running fine. I have no complaints" (GV Wire). **Strengths:** More than a decade of direct trial experience defending the county's most serious criminal cases. **Trade-offs:** A public defender's background is one perspective on the court's work rather than the full range of it, and no bar evaluation is available for this race. **Keep in mind:** Judicial ethics rules limit what any candidate may say about future rulings, so weigh career record more than promises here. ## Sources 1. [Fresno County elections office — certified June 2, 2026 primary results](https://www.fresnocountyca.gov/Departments/County-ClerkRegistrar-of-Voters/Elections/Election-Results/2026/RESULTS-FOR-JUNE-2-2026-CONSOLIDATED-STATEWIDE-PRIMARY-ELECTION) 2. [GV Wire — Central Valley election coverage, Assembly District 27](https://gvwire.com/2026/06/03/esmeralda-soria-brian-pacheco-adam-gray-advance-to-november-runoffs/) 3. [NetFile official public agency registry and live county campaign portals — candidate/committee searches run for Fresno (CFRE), Merced (MCO), San Bernardino (SBD), Ventura (VCO), Monterey Elections (MCE), and Placer (PLA), with the registry also checked for Siskiyou and Tuolumne](https://netfile.com/api/public/sites/api/agencies) 4. [GV Wire — What Fresno County Candidates Have to Say About How They Would Judge](https://gvwire.com/2026/04/23/what-fresno-county-candidates-have-to-say-about-how-they-would-judge/) 5. [GV Wire — Fresno County Judge Race Narrows. Will Hammerschmidt Face a Runoff?](https://gvwire.com/2026/06/10/fresno-county-judge-race-narrows-will-hammerschmidt-face-a-runoff/) ## The rest of the ballot Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7 — Fresno County 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, "Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 7 — Fresno County — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/fresno-judge-office-7 (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.