{"id":248543,"date":"2026-04-02T14:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/248543\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:44:09","slug":"top-fundraisers-could-make-fresno-city-council-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/248543\/","title":{"rendered":"Top fundraisers could make Fresno City Council history"},"content":{"rendered":"

The two Fresno City candidates who have raised the most campaign funds ahead of the June primary could make history, if elected, by becoming the first Punjabi Sikh members on the council.<\/p>\n

Across all four districts on the ballot, District 1 candidate Naindeep Singh<\/a> has raised the most at over $138,000 reported. District 7 candidate Nav Gurm<\/a> has over $129,000 reported.<\/p>\n

Those totals are according to campaign finance disclosure forms filed by candidates\u2019 campaign committees on the City of Fresno website. The first filing period ended Dec. 31, when candidates were required to disclose every penny they raised to that point. Since March 4, candidates have only been required to report donations over $1,000.<\/p>\n

Meaning, each candidate in any of Fresno\u2019s races has likely raised far more than what\u2019s currently reported online. The second filing period ends April 23, and will include smaller donations made in 2026.<\/p>\n

While Fresno is home to a large Punjabi Sikh community (approximately 70,00 across the county, according to the 2020 U.S. Census), no member has held a seat on the City Council .<\/p>\n

Gurm, 26, could also become the youngest councilmember since Henry T. Perea, who was 25 when he was elected in 2003. Gurm previously worked<\/a> as a legislative assistant for current District 7 Councilmember Nelson Esparza and as a political consultant.<\/p>\n

\"Navkaran Navkaran Gurm is running for Fresno City Council District 7 in the 2026 primary election. SPECIAL TO THE BEE <\/p>\n

Some of Gurm\u2019s notable contributions include:<\/p>\n

Gurm also made a $15,000 loan to his campaign in 2024.<\/p>\n

He is set to face Ariana Martinez Lott, a small business owner and community activist, AJ Rassamni, the founder of the Blackstone Merchants Association, and Jason J. Keomanne, a retired paralegal. The District 7 seat covers east-central and parts of southeast Fresno, including the neighborhoods Manchester, Radio Park, Romain Park, Lafayette Park\/Fresno High east and neighborhoods near Shields and Temperance avenues.<\/p>\n

Singh is a Central Unified board trustee and executive director of the Jakara Movement.<\/p>\n

Some of his campaign\u2019s notable contributions include:<\/p>\n

\"Naindeep Naindeep Singh, the Executive Director of the Jakara Movement and Central Unified School Board Trustee, has filed to run for the Fresno City Council District 1 seat in the 2026 primary election. SPECIAL TO THE BEE <\/p>\n

Singh faces three other candidates for the District 1 seat: State Center Community College District board trustee and federal prosecutor Rob Fuentes, small-business owner Monte Forkas and accessibility coordinator Joe Hinojosa.<\/p>\n

The district covers portions of northwest and central Fresno, including the Tower District, the Fresno High area, parts of Fig Garden, and areas west of Highway 99.<\/p>\n

In the same race, Fuentes is another top fundraiser with $102,800 reported, according to campaign finance disclosure files.<\/p>\n

One of his highest contributors was a $10,000 donation from the Fresno Firefighters Legislative Action Committee. The Fresno Police Officers Association PAC and current Fresno City Councilmember Tyler Maxwell also each gave $5,900.<\/p>\n

The primary election will take place June 2, and registered voters can expect to receive their vote-by-mail ballots in early May. The District 3 and District 5 City Council seats will also be on the ballot, as well as two Fresno County Board of Supervisors seats.<\/p>\n

To secure a seat, a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote in the primary election. If no one gets a majority of the vote, the top two candidates will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.<\/p>\n

Fresno Bee reporter Melissa Montalvo contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The two Fresno City candidates who have raised the most campaign funds ahead of the June primary could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-248543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}