Your guide to the Fresno County District 1 supervisor race. Who’s contributing money?

The only Fresno County supervisor district on the ballot for November is for the District 1 seat that covers parts of the city of Fresno and a swath of the west side of the county.

District 1 has drawn the top two vote-getters from the June primary in Mike Karbassi, a member of the Fresno City Council, and Maria Pacheco, the mayor of Kerman. The election is Nov. 3.

The district is made up of mostly the western part of the county, encompassing much of Fresno west of Highway 99. Firebaugh, Kerman, Mendota, San Joaquin and several unincorporated rural towns on the westside are also within the district.

The two candidates were only separated by abut 1,000 votes in the crowded primary of five candidates. Karbassi had a slight lead with 32.7% (8,046) to Pacheco’s 28.5% (7,008). There were 92,456 registered voters in the district, but 26,755 voted in the June primary, according to the Fresno County Elections Office.

The county is going into what will be a difficult year for funding, according to county CAO Paul Nerland. Leaders are expected to face a $40 million to $240 million shortfall next year under the Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Mike Karbassi

Karbassi is a small-business owner of Persian Rug Collections, a business founded by his namesake father. Karbassi was first elected to the Fresno City Council in a special election in 2019 for a partial term before winning re-election in 2020 and 2024.

Asked about the looming budget constraints, Karbassi said he believes many of the unincorporated communities on the west side will need help with roads and illegal dumping.

“It’s not a sexy issue. I hear it all the time,” he said. “(In the county) you don’t have a whole council and a mayor you can complain to. All you’ve got is the county, and I want to make sure the county does kind of like what I do as a council member. We’re actually accessible, and we deliver, and we actually move the needle.”

The district also needs planning around growth and clean water, he said.

“You’ve got to make really, really tough decisions, but you’ve also got to plan for the future. And so there are tough decisions ahead,” he said. “The question the voters are going to have to ask themselves because we don’t really know, is who is better equipped to make those decisions and to have the least impact on the services that folks rely on? Because the county provides far more important, critical services than the city does.”

Maria Pacheco

Pacheco’s campaign notes she was the first Latina and Indigenous person to hold the mayor’s office in Kerman, and she would be the first Latina on the county board if she wins. She’s also a senior field representative for the office of Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno.

She said she calls the Trump Administration’s spending plan the “Big Ugly Bill.”

“When it comes to cuts, I definitely would not start with the people who can least afford it,” she said. “I would start looking at government itself, and if (we’re) to take a cut, I would prefer to take a (supervisor paycheck) cut before I cut some of these working families’ paychecks.”

The uncertain size of the shortfall makes planning for cuts difficult, she said.

“It’s a hard time to live right now, and working families are really struggling and we’re seeing a lot of unemployment, but we’re seeing even more so underemployment,” she said. “We really need to focus on bringing in new industry into the area so that our working families aren’t struggling so hard, and at the same time balancing a budget in-house. It’s a lot of work.”

Who’s paying campaign contributions?

Karbassi has collected $247,446 this year in campaign contributions, and has spent $202,865, according to the latest reporting period paperwork.

Some of his largest contributors in the latest filing include: Wallace & Smith Contractors of Bakersfield ($20,000); developer Richard Spencer of Fresno ($15,000); Fresno Chamber PAC ($11,500); Target Constructions Inc. of Madera ($10,000); and Fresno Firefighters Legislative Action Committee ($7,000).

Pacheco reported receiving $161,218 in campaign donations. Her campaign has spent $94,326, according to the latest filing.

Some of the largest contributions in the latest filing were: Soria for Senate 2026 ($22,788); Dignity CA SEIU Local 2015 ($20,000); Latino Caucus of California Counties PAC ($10,000); Jay Gill, an auto shop owner, of Livermore ($7,674); and CA Westside Farmers PAC ($5,000).