Early election results show familiar names in the lead for Fresno County judge races
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jennifer L. Hamilton led Judge No. 14 with 62.29% to 37.42% after 15% counted.
- Noelle Pebet led Judge No. 9 with 58.74% while Eddie Ruiz had 40.93%.
- Jennifer L. Smith led Judge No. 12 with 73.7% against Miles Harris’s 25.9%.
Early voting results in the race for six opens positions on the Fresno County Superior Court bench show high profile candidates taking decisive leads.
With 15% of the vote counted, Superior Court Judge No. 14 candidate Jennifer L. Hamilton, a Superior Court Commissioner and wife of presiding judge Jeff Hamilton, received 62.29% while her opponent Jamie Xiong-Vang had 37.42%.
In the Superior Court Judge No. 3 race, Marc Kapetan, a defense attorney whose brother Jon is a retired Superior Court judge and whose sister-in-law is a current Superior Court judge received 55.57%, while his opponent Rosalina Nunez, a defense attorney, had 44.18%.
Noelle Pebet, a Superior Court commissioner and niece of Michael Idiart, a current Superior Court judge, received 58.74% in the race for Superior Court Judge No. 9. Her opponent defense attorney Eddie Ruiz had 40.93%.
Also opening a comfortable lead for the Superior Court Judge No. 7 post was Jeffrey Hammerschmidt, a longtime lawyer with experience as a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. Hammerschmidt received 53.06% of the vote. His closest competitor was Jose Salazar, an attorney, with 32.13%. Trailing in third place was attorney Curtis Sok with 14.54%.
In one of the closest races for Superior Court Judge No. 6, Ashley Paulson, chief prosecuting attorney for the City of Fresno, was leading challenger and former colleague Steven Ueltzen, a senior deputy district attorney in Fresno County. Paulson had 48.02% to 32.4% for Ueltzen.
Paulson’s campaign was among the most visible, with a heavy presence on social media and endorsements from law enforcement groups, Superior Court judges, and local elected officials.
Jennifer L. Smith, senior deputy district attorney for Fresno County, held a comfortable lead in the race for Superior Court Judge No. 12 with 73.7%. Her challenger, attorney Miles Harris had 25.9% of the vote.
This election cycle, Fresno County voters will be electing six new judges for the Fresno County Superior Court, the most in recent history.
Superior court judges are appointed by the governor when a vacancy happens in the middle of an elected term. But when a judge serves their six-year term, they can run for reelection.
In Fresno County’s case, several judges chose not to run again, creating open seats and attracting a slew of well-known candidates, including current court commissioners, high-profile prosecutors, and longtime defense attorneys.
