City Councilmember in Fresno gathers support for 2026 state Senate run. Who’s backing him?
State Sen. Anna Caballero, a Democrat from Merced, still has two years left in office before she faces term limits, but that’s not keeping one challenger from getting an early start on campaigning.
Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza announced his candidacy as a Democrat for the 14th Senate District last week. He’s already racking up endorsements for the election, which is in 2026.
The latest to announce his backing is Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, whose 21st Congressional District overlaps part of the 14th Senate District in Fresno and southern Fresno County. Esparza said he has been acquainted with the congressman since he began getting involved in electoral politics about nine years ago.
“I have confidence that Nelson Esparza will represent our Valley well,” Costa said in a prepared statement, “and I am proud to endorse him for State Senate.”
Esparza said he was pleased to receive Costa’s endorsement.
“It’s a tremendous honor to have the support of my Congressman as I run to represent Fresno, Madera and Merced counties … ,” Esparza told The Bee this week.
“You can’t talk about leadership in the Central Valley without talking about Jim Costa,” he added. “He has represented every corner of our Valley at one point or another throughout his distinguished career.”
Costa has been a legislator in the Valley for 46 years, serving first in the state Assembly from 1978 to 1994, and in the state Senate from 1994 to 2002. He was elected to Congress in 2004 and this year is running for re-election in the 21st Congressional District.
Esparza, 33, was elected to the Fresno City Council in 2018 to represent District 7, which covers parts of central and east Fresno. He was re-elected in 2022 and will be termed out at the end of 2026.
The 14th Senate District encompasses the southern and western portions of Fresno County, the western half of Madera County, and most of Merced County. As of July, the district’s voter registration is 43.1% Democrat, 25.9% Republican, 4.1% American Independent, and 22.5% declaring no party preference.
Esparza, who was raised in Madera, has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Riverside and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition to his work on the City Council, he has taught economics as a part-time instructor at Fresno City College.
Esparza had previously filed a statement of intention and established a campaign finance committee to run for the State Board of Equalization in 2026. “I recently decided to end my exploration for (Equalization) and run to continue representing our Valley communities in a legislative capacity,” Esparza told The Bee this week. He added that he will be terminating that campaign committee.
Esparza was elected as a trustee of the Fresno County Board of Education in 2016 and served part of one four-year term before he ran for and won election to the City Council.
His tenure on the City Council has not been without controversy. As the council president in 2022, Esparza became embroiled in a conflict with then-City Attorney Doug Sloan in which he allegedly threatened to get Sloan fired if he didn’t follow directions to work only with a liberal-leaning council majority. Sloan left his Fresno job in April 2022 to take a similar post in Santa Monica.
The dustup led to the Fresno County District Attorney’s office filing a criminal felony charge of attempted extortion against Esparza. That charge was later reduced by a judge to a misdemeanor before the DA dropped the charges entirely in November 2022.
Since announcing his candidacy, Esparza has piled up a string of endorsements from local elected officials, including Fresno City Council colleagues Luis Chavez, Mike Karbassi and Tyler Maxwell, three members of the Madera City Council; a variety of members of local school and community college district boards of trustees; local and Valley labor organizations; and local Democratic party leaders.
But not all of the endorsements are Democrats. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, a Republican, is also throwing his support behind Esparza. “I’ve seen Nelson Esparza in action firsthand on the City Council,” Dyer said in a prepared statement. “He’s a unique leader who knows how to bring people together to solve problems and get things done. We need more of that in Sacramento. …”
Esparza is starting the campaign with a sizable war chest. Between his 2022 City Council candidate committee and the committee registered for a potential run for the state Board of Equalization, Esparza reported more than $108,000 in cash on hand as of June 30.
Another would-be candidate, Sanger City Councilmember Esmeralda Hurtado, had filed a statement of intention to run in the 14th Senate District and established a campaign committee, but ended her candidacy in December 2022.
This story was originally published August 15, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
