{"id":344102,"date":"2026-06-03T05:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344102\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T05:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:00:11","slug":"lott-gurm-appear-primed-for-fresno-district-7-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344102\/","title":{"rendered":"Lott, Gurm Appear Primed for Fresno District 7 Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The race to lead central and southeast Fresno is narrowing to two candidates, with attorney and political consultant Nav Gurm taking a strong lead as community organizer Ariana Martinez Lott follows closely.<\/p>\n<p>Gurm, bolstered by high-profile endorsements ranging from Sen. Adam Schiff to Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, currently has 40.28% of the vote to Martinez Lott\u2019s 35.33%. Martinez Lott is backed by labor leader Dolores Huerta and many progressive groups.<\/p>\n<p>Businessman AJ Rassamni has 15.36% of the vote at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/gvwire.com\/contact\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280\u00d790-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GVWire-Ad-Get-our-mobile-app-1280x90-1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"   width=\"1280\" height=\"90\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-250609 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/real-nav-lede.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"720\"  \/>Fresno City Council District 7 candidate Nav Gurm (center) awaits results at his joint campaign party with Fresno City Council District 5 candidate Danielle Parra (center in red) and Fresno City Council District 3 candidate Fernando Alvarez (standing with glasses) at Sequoia Brewing on June 2, 2026. (GV Wire\/Edward Smith)<\/p>\n<p>Gurm told GV Wire he was excited to be in first place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe left it all out there, we really left no stone unturned and worked really hard,\u201d Gurm said.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez Lott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Gurm Outraises Martinez Lott<\/p>\n<p>Current representative Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza is termed out. Esparza has endorsed Gurm and is currently running for Board of Equalization.<\/p>\n<p>The most recent filings show Gurm outraising Martinez Lott by nearly 3-to-1, reporting $120,000 to her $47,000 as of May 16.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez Lott has largely relied on smaller individual donors, while Gurm\u2019s funding comes from a bevy of donors, ranging from individuals to unions and corporations.<\/p>\n<p>The district includes large portions of Blackstone Avenue, Manchester Center, Fresno along Highway 180 and east Fresno.<\/p>\n<p>The district would likely grow if the city approves a development plan known as the Southeast Development Area. Candidates have had mixed reactions to the plan, with Martinez Lott taking a firm stance against SEDA while Gurm has said he supports a plan that would not take away from the interior.<\/p>\n<p>Updated results are available at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnocountyca.gov\/Departments\/County-ClerkRegistrar-of-Voters\/Elections\/Election-Results\/2026\/RESULTS-FOR-JUNE-2-2026-CONSOLIDATED-STATEWIDE-PRIMARY-ELECTION\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-211811\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Fresno-District-7-Map.jpg\" alt=\"Fresno District 7 Map\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1481\"  \/>Fresno District 7 Map (fresno.gov)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race to lead central and southeast Fresno is narrowing to two candidates, with attorney and political consultant&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-344102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344102","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=344102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}