Fresno's city sales tax is trailing as Fresno County's down-ballot results take shape: in early returns from Tuesday's midterm election, voters were rejecting Measure S — the City of Fresno measure described on the ballot as a public safety, infrastructure restoration and city general services sales tax — by 72,370 votes to 63,212, a margin of 53.38 per cent against and 46.62 per cent in favour, according to Associated Press election results, with the race still too early to call.

Source: Associated Press election results, Local Measure Fresno-S, Fresno County (Nov. 4, 2026)

Fresnoland, the Fresno newsroom that covered the county's election night live, reported the same 53.38 per cent figure opposed to the renewal and explained the threshold that now matters: Measure S is a signature-led tax effort, and it needs only a simple majority to pass. That means the measure does not need a late surge to survive — it needs the remaining ballots, which Fresno County will update on Thursday, to break heavily enough in its favour to erase a gap of more than 9,000 votes in the count reported so far.

Source: Fresnoland, Fresno midterm election results (updated Nov. 4, 2026)

What Measure S decides

Measure S is the City of Fresno's sales tax for public safety, infrastructure restoration and city general services — the money that pays for police and fire response, road and infrastructure repairs and the day-to-day services a city of Fresno's size runs on. Because it reached the ballot through a signature-led effort, it is decided by a simple majority of voters rather than a supermajority, Fresnoland reported. A defeat would not cut an existing line item overnight, but it would deny the city a revenue stream its leaders campaigned to renew, and it would do so in an election where cost-of-living anger was the dominant national theme: across the country, exit polls found roughly nine in ten voters calling the cost of living a crucial or major factor in their vote.

A Kerman mayor leads for the Board of Supervisors

In the race for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors — the five-member body that runs county government, from the sheriff's budget to road repairs in unincorporated communities — Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco took a big lead over Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, 57.74 per cent to 42.26 per cent, Fresnoland reported. Kerman is a small, heavily agricultural city west of Fresno, and a win for its mayor would put a small-city, westside voice on a board whose decisions shape everything from farm-worker services to Highway 99 corridor planning.

Schools chief declares victory

In the race for Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, incumbent Michele Cantwell-Copher held 56.51 per cent of the vote, leading challenger Eimear O'Brien, who carried 43.49 per cent. Cantwell-Copher declared victory in a speech to supporters at her watch party in the One Putt Broadcasting building in downtown Fresno. 'We have always always been about improving the lives of the children of Fresno County through powerful public education, and I have been so proud to stand with you through these last four years, particularly these last two,' she said, adding that the campaign involved 'a lot of dirty politics, but we kept it very focused on kids.' The county superintendent oversees support for the county's school districts — a system that educates many of the Central Valley's Punjabi and other immigrant families' children.

Fresno Unified board: one easy win, two close fights

The school board races for Fresno Unified, the district that runs most of the city's public schools, split three ways. In District 1, Miguel Arias cruised to an easy victory in a packed five-candidate race, carrying 40.46 per cent, with his next closest challenger, Daren Miller, at 18.01 per cent. In District 3, longtime incumbent Valerie Davis held a narrow lead of 50.63 per cent to challenger Riley Talford's 48.64 per cent. And in District 4, challenger Karen Steed, at 39.55 per cent, was ahead of Mirna Garcia, at 30.05 per cent, with incumbent Veva Islas ending the night in third place at 29.84 per cent — a result that would unseat a sitting trustee if it holds.

Elsewhere on the county's ballot, Fresnoland reported Esmeralda Soria receiving 66 per cent of the vote compared with DuPont's 33 per cent in her race, and Annalisa Perea leading with 67 per cent while Polsgrove trailed at 32 per cent in hers. In the State Center Community College District Area 5 race — the board that governs Fresno City College and its sister campuses — Marcos Osorio led with 45 per cent of the vote, followed by Miguel Castaneda Sanchez with 25 per cent and Terance Frazier with 28 per cent in Fresnoland's reporting of the three-way split; Frazier acknowledged the gap would be difficult to close but said he was at peace with the outcome, while also saying it was still too early to call the race.

Why this ballot matters in the Central Valley

Fresno County is one of the agricultural engines of California and home to one of the largest Punjabi communities in the United States, spread from Fresno and Clovis to Kerman, Selma and Fowler — the same small cities whose mayors and school boards were on this ballot. A city sales tax decides the condition of the roads those families drive and the response times of the services they call; a county supervisor decides how unincorporated farm communities are served; and the county schools chief and the Fresno Unified board decide how the district's classrooms — full of Punjabi-speaking students — are run. That is why a 'down-ballot' night in Fresno is not small news for this readership: it is the layer of American government they will actually meet.

What happens next

None of these county races is final. Fresnoland reported that another round of ballot-counting results from Fresno County is expected on Thursday, November 5, as mail and remaining ballots are processed, and California counties then have weeks to complete their canvass before certifying results. Measure S, trailing by 9,158 votes in the reported count, needs the late ballots to break strongly in favour of 'yes'; the supervisors and schools races will be confirmed or tightened by the same Thursday update. Awaaz Punjab reported the city's council races — including Naindeep Singh's 16-vote lead in District 1 — in separate coverage on election night.

The Fresno City Council races, including the District 1 contest decided by a handful of votes, were covered separately: read the council race report