The Fresno City Council meets Thursday, July 30, 2026, in downtown Fresno.
ERIC PAUL ZAMORA
ezamora@fresnobee.com
For Fresno voters trying to make sense of a chaotic month before the Nov. 3 election, August delivered a torrent of overlapping stories.
There were two competing sales tax ballot measures; a courtroom drama over when one should go on the ballot; a defamation case that could upend a Fresno city council race; a stabbing outside the courthouse at a campaign ad set; and open talk from one city council candidate of recalling Garry Bredefeld, chairman of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors.
Here’s a rundown Fresno’s political coverage in August 
Bullard High football coach Don Arax, left, and FUSD trustee Keshia Thomas, right. Fresno Bee File Thomas-Arax defamation fallout
A big political earthquake came in the District 3 City Council race between Fresno Unified Trustee Keshia Thomas and Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno.
Thomas is a defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by former Bullard High football coach Don Arax over her claim in a 2022 podcast that Arax used a racial slur against her son at a 2013 football camp.
On Aug. 14, Thomas’ son, Albert Alford Jr., now an adult, released a statement saying the accusation “wasn’t true” — that he had told his mother the story in eighth grade but had never actually heard Arax use the slur. In a July 27 sworn court declaration, Alford said he “never heard Coach Arax use any racial slur” and never told his mother he had.
Days later, the Fresno Teachers Association called on Thomas to resign. FTA President Manuel Bonilla said trust with the public was “completely lost.” The union has contributed $5,000 to Arambula’s campaign.
On Aug. 18, Thomas issued a formal apology: “Mr. Arax, I sincerely apologize to you and your family. I believed the information I had at the time, but I have since learned that the information I relied upon was not accurate.”
Arax attorney Brian Whelan rejected it. “This is not an apology. It is the latest version of a story that finally ran out of places to go,” he said, calling it “public relations” rather than contrition. Thomas’ lawyers have abandoned two prior defenses — that the allegation was true, and that she had qualified immunity.
The financial exposure keeps climbing. Through June 9, Fresno Unified had paid $235,330 in its own defense fees and $134,421 for Thomas’ defense. The district carries a $24 million insurance policy with a $1 million deductible, but Thomas has not been indemnified — if she loses, she pays personally. Trial is set for Dec. 7. The board’s motion to dismiss is heard Oct. 7.
The parties are scheduled for mediation on Aug. 31.
Arambula has had his own negative headlines, dealing with a public divorce and seeking help for substance abuse.
Tax measure saga: two measures, one ballot, no clean exit
Fresno voters will now see two local sales tax measures on the Nov. 3 ballot — a countywide half-cent transportation tax known as Measure S (formerly Better Roads, Safe Streets) and a separate city-only half-cent general tax that City Hall tried and failed to withdraw.
The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 in August to send Measure S to the March 2028 ballot after Chairman Garry Bredefeld triggered a 30-day study that caused the measure to miss a key deadline for the Nov. 3 ballot. That decision was overridden by AB 1923, a state emergency law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that ordered the measure onto the November ballot.
Fearing Measure S might still be blocked, the Fresno City Council on July 30 approved its own backup tax measure. Mayor Jerry Dyer signed it with an hour to spare by the Aug. 7 deadline.
Then on Aug. 12, four councilmembers no-showed a special meeting called to pull the city measure back off the ballot: Annalisa Perea, Mike Karbassi, Tyler Maxwell and Nelson Esparza. Without a quorum, the 5 p.m. state deadline lapsed. Both measures stayed on the ballot.
The courtroom carousel: three judges out, ballots looming
After the emergency state bill was passed, Fresno County sued the state, elections chief James Kus and the measure’s official supporters, hiring the Sacramento firm Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk at $600 per hour. The suit called AB 1923 an unconstitutional “special statute” that singles out one of California’s 58 counties.
Time was short. Kus told attorneys he needs a ruling by Sept. 3 to format ballots for roughly 2,000 military and overseas voters, with a Sept. 9 hard deadline to send materials to printers.
Measure S would run 30 years and raise an estimated $7.4 billion — 65% for local streets, and 25% for public transportation. It replaces Measure C, which sunsets June 30, 2027.
The case became a judicial carousel. Judges Robert Whalen, Virna Santos and Lisa Gamoian were each disqualified through peremptory challenges. Judge Jonathan Skiles, the fourth jurist assigned, ended up deciding the case this week in favor of keeping the measure on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Recall talk aimed at Bredefeld 
Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld put a sign on the dais before he voted against allowing the library to participate in Pride Month, and restricting some displays by the library. THADDEUS MILLER tmiller@fresnobee.com
The supervisors’ 3-2 vote to delay Measure S put Bredefeld in the crosshairs of some critics. District 1 City Council candidate Naindeep Singh publicly called for Bredefeld’s recall, arguing the chairman used parliamentary maneuvering to override 32,000 petition signatures and the support of nine of the county’s 15 cities.
“Bredefeld will burn this county down to feed his own ego,” Singh posted on social media.
Bredefeld was undeterred. “Bring it on, baby,” he told The Fresno Bee, calling Singh a “radical woke leftist.” Bredefeld argues that Measure S lasts too long and steers too much money to buses, bikes and scooters instead of roads.
Singh doesn’t live in Bredefeld’s district and can’t personally launch the recall. He said he wants to “start the conversation.” A Reddit thread titled “We can recall Bredefeld” has drawn hundreds of comments.
Dyer says council shakeup ‘scares’ him 
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, at a July 27, 2026, news conference at Fresno City Hall, said he would run for a third term in 2028 if voters allow. David Taub The Fresno Bee
With Keshia Thomas’ race in turmoil, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer is bracing for a council he may struggle to work with. He told the Rotary Club of Fresno on Aug. 4 that at least three, and possibly four, new councilmembers will be seated next year.
“The culture will change, depending on who gets into office. There could be a substantial shift in the direction that the council goes, and that scares me,” Dyer said.
All six candidates in the three runoffs are registered Democrats. Dyer, a Republican who governs from the center, has endorsed Rob Fuentes in District 1 and Nav Gurm in District 7. He has not endorsed in District 3 between Arambula and Thomas and said he doesn’t expect to. A fourth seat could open if Karbassi wins his supervisor race.
Was prosecutor stabbing outside the courthouse targeted?
One of the month’s most alarming stories came Aug. 20, when a Fresno County senior deputy district attorney was stabbed in the back multiple times in Courthouse Park while he was standing off-camera during the filming of a judicial campaign commercial for candidate Ashley Paulson, Fresno’s chief assistant city attorney.
Dustin Crawford, 42, of Fresno, faces charges of attempted murder and attempted murder of a public official. He remained jailed on $1 million bond, with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office prosecuting to avoid a conflict.
District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said Crawford may have recognized the prosecutor from a 2016 knife-assault case he handled. Surveillance video shows Crawford walking straight to the victim and singling him out.
“This is not a random act of violence by a mentally ill man,” Smittcamp said. “This was targeted.”
Crawford’s family disputed that claim, with the charged man’s brother telling The Bee that Crawford has been mentally ill and has bad eyesight. His mother applied for a restraining order a few months ago.
The prosecutor, whose name was not made public, released from the hospital Aug. 21 and is expected to fully recover. Sheriff John Zanoni said officials are drafting a county ordinance to let district attorneys, public defenders and city attorneys carry concealed weapons in county facilities.
Original stories by David Taub, Liliana Fannin, Anthony Galaviz, and Robert Rodriguez.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence based on our own originally reported, written and published content. Before publishing, journalists reviewed this content in compliance with McClatchy Media’s AI policy.
This story was originally published September 1, 2026 at 5:06 AM.