Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com.
After facing heat for saying he’d consider serving a third term, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer wants the public to know a controversial idea to change term limits wasn’t his idea in the first place.
Dyer said that it was never his intention to seek a third term. The idea hadn’t crossed his mind until he was approached by his council colleagues about the proposed term limit reform, he said.
“I had not heard of this until last week,” Dyer said in an interview with The Bee on Thursday afternoon.
In a marathon meeting that lasted more than 12 hours, Fresno City Council voted Thursday to table a proposal that would have asked voters to amend the city charter so councilmembers and the mayor could run for three consecutive terms. Currently, the city charter allows the mayor and councilmembers to serve two consecutive terms, then sit out a term before running again. There is no cap on how many terms they can serve.
During a press conference Monday announcing the proposed measure, a Bee reporter asked Dyer whether he would consider running for a third term if the ballot measure passed. Dyer said he was open to the idea.
“As I stand here today, the answer is yes. I would run for a third term as mayor in the city of Fresno … as long as my health holds out. And right now, I feel really healthy, energetic, passionate about the job, and I feel like we’ve got great things ahead of us, and I want to make sure I see it across the finish line,” Dyer said. He co-sponsored the bill alongside Council President Nelson Esparza.
The proposal was met with swift criticism, with critics calling it “self-serving” and a “power grab.” Three political science experts told The Bee that there’s no one-size-fits all for term limits, and there’s no inherent problem in considering a three term limit. The problem, they said, is the rushed way in which the proposal was presented to the City Council and to the public.
Dozens waited until after 8:30 p.m. Thursday to make public comment against the proposal.
Dyer and Esparza criticized media coverage of the term limit proposal. Dyer said his reasons for considering a third term were misrepresented. He was only entertaining the idea to finish the work his administration has started, such as downtown development and securing a professional soccer team and stadium.
“When people attack me for saying I’m doing it for power — It’s just not fair,” he said.
“The mistake I made was agreeing to attend the press conference and the mistake I made was agreeing to be a co-sponsor of it,” Dyer said. “If I had it to do over again, I would say, I don’t want anything to do with it,” he said. “If Council wants to bring this forward, so be it.”
Krista Aranda with stickers against a third term for Mayor Jerry Dyer listens closely during a Fresno City Council meeting Thursday, July 30, 2026 in downtown Fresno.
Details of term limit proposal still murky
Few details have been shared about how the term limit proposal came about, though Esparza said during Thursday’s meeting that the idea had been on his mind “for a long time.”
Councilmember Miguel Arias, meanwhile, said he remembered discussing charter reform changes, such as term limits and adding council seats, with Councilmember Mike Karbassi “years ago.”
“So it’s always been a conversation in this building,” Arias said.
Dyer said he got a call about the term limit proposal from a councilmember last week when he was home one evening with his wife. Dyer declined to name which councilmember called him, citing their ongoing professional relationship.
“They talked about … there was going to be this item brought forward to limit service on the council and in the mayor’s office to three terms,” Dyer said.
The councilmember also asked Dyer if he would be interested to serve third term and to join other officials at Monday’s news conference.
“My first response was no because I’ve given a lot to this city… I have committed my life to public service,” Dyer said.
But, he said, he saw some merit to the idea of three consecutive terms, which other cities across the state have also implemented. The proponents of the measure said it would keep people from cycling through as “lifetime politicians” while at the same time providing stability to and an administration more time to complete big projects and policy changes.
“I had heard from people in the community over the last probably six months about maybe the charter needed to be changed to allow for a third term,” he said.
But, he said, he didn’t give it a passing thought. “Nor did I ever, ever, for a moment, say I was going to pursue something like that,” he said. “It was brought to me.”
Dyer said he discussed the idea of a third term with his wife and Councilmember Tyler Maxwell — whose name has come up as someone who would consider a mayoral run — and with their blessings, said he would consider a third term if his health energy, and passion for the job was still there.
“Some of the original councilmembers that asked me weren’t necessarily co-sponsors,” Dyer said.
The Fresno City Council meets Thursday, July 30, 2026 in downtown Fresno.
Council tables term limit proposal
Esparza said Thursday he “resented” the idea that the proposal would be self-serving for him.
Esparza, who is in the final year of his second term, is currently seeking a seat on the state Board of Equalization and faces a competitive race in the November general election.
“I think it would have been self-serving if I did this earlier in my term,” he said.
When the proposal was finally discussed around 8:30 p.m., around two dozen people made comments opposing the term limit change, questioning the motives behind the rushed term limit change and criticizing the Council and Dyer for proposing the idea and delaying the discussion until the end of the day.
Fresno resident Joseph Rodriguez speaks in opposition to a proposal that would have allowed councilmembers and the mayor to serve three consecutive terms at Fresno City Hall on Thursday, July 30, 2026.
Jagmeet Singh, an organizer with the Jakara Movement, a nonprofit serving the Punjabi community, said it appeared the measure was introduced as a means of job security for current seatholders.
“Councilmembers, we all know that are supporting this measure because you know certain primary elections probably were a little too close for comfort, and maybe you want to slide back into your seat in 2028,” Singh said.