What's at stake:
Only a few races remain truly undecided at this point. Most are heading to November runoffs.
Incumbent Brandon Vang declared himself the outright winner in the District 5 Fresno City Council race on Wednesday, a day after the latest election totals showed him further expanding his massive lead in the race.
“The voters of District 5 have once again spoken, and they trust the work and progress we have made to make District 5 a better place for all,” Vang said in a statement. “I am deeply grateful for the confidence our community has placed in me. This victory belongs to every neighbor, family, and small business owner who believes in a stronger, safer, and more prosperous District 5. I am ready to continue the work.”
Danielle Para, Vang’s closest opponent in the race, was not immediately available for comment Wednesday morning.
Although other local races featured a few changes to tallies, they didn’t change who would end up in November runoffs.
Elections officials more than halved the tens of thousands of ballots they hadn’t counted last week. They have another 31,350 ballots remaining, and plan to release another update on Thursday, June 11.
Want to see all the new election results? They’re available here.
In the race for the Fresno County Superintendent’s office: Michele Cantwell-Copher extended her lead slightly as she waits to find out which of two challengers will face her in the general election later this year.
Eimear O’Brien and Johnny Alvarado are fighting for second place and a spot on the November ballot. O’Brien has maintained the second place spot since June 2, and remains just under 4,000 votes ahead of Alvarado as of Tuesday.
Alvarado did not respond to a request for comment. In a message to Fresnoland late Tuesday, O’Brien described her second-place position as “solid” and said she remains confident that she’ll advance to the next election.
Several Fresno City Council races saw leads shrink or change hands Tuesday between the top two candidates in their respective races — but that didn’t change who would be heading to November runoffs.
In the council District 1 race, Naindeep Singh took his first lead over Rob Fuentes, but by a slim margin as the two prepare for the upcoming fall campaign.
Joaquin Arambula and Keshia Thomas remain leading the council District 3 race, duking it out for first place but well ahead of the remaining challengers as they expect to battle it out in the November election.
Nav Gurm and Arianna Martinez Lott still have a commanding lead in the District 7 council race compared to the two other candidates. However, Gurm’s lead over Martinez Lott shrunk from 71 votes last week to just 18 as of Tuesday. Since election week, the two have been expecting to head to a runoff in November.
In the District 1 county supervisor race, Mike Karbassi still has a commanding lead, although it shrunk slightly. He’s still more than 1,000 votes ahead of second place challenger Maria Pacheco. The two will likely head to a November runoff as they are far ahead of the four other candidates in the race.
Fresnoland’s Julianna Morano and Diego Vargas contributed reporting.
