Fresno voters clearly wanted Jerry Dyer as mayor. Next four years won’t be as easy
So much for voter registration numbers, 21st century campaigns and progressive waves rolling through California’s fifth-largest city.
The voters of Fresno have spoken, and they’ve selected former police chief Jerry Dyer as their next mayor.
“Runoff?” they asked themselves while filling in bubbles and fingering touch screens. “We don’t need no stinkin’ runoff.”
Since Fresno enacted the strong mayor system in 1996, never before has an election been decided in the primary without an incumbent in the race. But that’s exactly what happened in 2020 as Dyer muscled his way 51.8% of the vote — slightly above the 50% plus one majority he needs to sew up victory — according to Wednesday’s latest ballot dump.
By comparison, Dyer’s main challenger, Andrew Janz, received 38.9%. (Even though some 3,000 ballots remain uncounted across Fresno County, there isn’t enough of them to push Dyer below the 50% threshold.)
How did this happen, and how did this happen with so little fuss?
Start with name recognition. Until his retirement last September, Dyer served 18 years as Fresno’s top cop. Beyond that, he was the Fresno Police Department’s main voice. That’s 18 years’ worth of press conferences, gang arrests and drug busts televised into thousands of local living rooms.
It never made much sense (at least to me) that Dyer’s greatest base of support comes from parts of the city largely unaffected by violent crime. Let’s be real. The closest most north Fresno residents get to gangs or shootings is while watching the local news.
Regardless, that sense of familiarity and feeling of security were qualities no other candidate could match.
Second is the financial might of Dyer’s campaign. Although Janz made a point of telling everyone within earshot that he didn’t take money from developers, in the end he could’ve used the dough.
According to my quick tabulations, Dyer’s campaign raised nearly $900,000 in this race. That’s about three times what Janz raised, and the difference buys a lot of TV ads, radio spots and lawn signs.
Not even aggressive messaging by an anti-Dyer Political Action Committee funded in large part by the Arambula family could derail this train.
‘I really believe he cares’
Third — and this is something that often gets overlooked — is Dyer’s own charisma and personal touch. This is a man, despite what his detractors believe, with a big heart. One that cares deeply about people victimized by senseless crime.
In 2015, when 9-year-old Janessa Ramirez died from a stray bullet in front of a West Fresno laundromat, Dyer shed tears alongside Ramirez’s family and friends at the girl’s memorial service. (Don’t be a cynic, either. Those tears were genuine.)
Here’s something else that has stuck with me: Last summer I interviewed Aaron Foster, the reformed gang member working to bring the anti-gun violence program Advanced Peace to Fresno.
Foster knows the effects of senseless violence better than most. He lost two children, a son and a daughter, to gang-related shootings. And when Dyer came out against Advanced Peace during a City Council meeting, I figured Foster would light him up.
He did not.
“This may surprise you, but of all the people I’ve talked to Chief Dyer has been the most supportive,” Foster told me. “He has been there from Day One. When my daughter died he actually cried — and I really believe he cares. I don’t think that it’s a dog and pony show for him.”
That’s the type of connection Dyer has forged with many in this community over the past decades. And those folks wanted him as their mayor.
“People are not politics,” Foster said recently when I reminded him of our previous conversation.
Mayor, City Council divided
Name recognition, campaign heft and personal charisma — check, check and check. Those factors were more than enough to overcome a sizable voter registration advantage for Democrats over Republicans in Fresno (42% to 27%), Dyer’s much-discussed personal and professional baggage and the fact that Super Tuesday was a Democratic presidential primary.
Even Dyer’s decision to skip several candidate forums in the final run-up to Election Day — and not just the ones sponsored by progressive groups — failed to leave a mark. Nor did Janz’s decisive edge in social media followers and engagement. A 21st century campaign? That might work in some regions of California, but not here, not yet.
While Dyer received a clear voter mandate, that doesn’t mean every cop will be driving around in a new squad car and every developer’s pet project will get green-lit at the expense of parks, road maintenance and programs aimed at reducing homelessness.
That’s because the Fresno City Council veered even further left with Tyler Maxwell’s victory in District 4. That makes six (out of seven) Democratic council members, four of whom identify as progressive. Remember, it takes five council votes to override any mayoral veto.
Little wonder Dyer and his allies at the Fresno Chamber of Commerce campaigned so aggressively for Nathan Alonzo, Maxwell’s opponent.
So even though Dyer had a fairly easy time at the ballot box, the political chasm between the mayor’s office and this City Council ensure the road ahead will be anything but clear sailing. Welcome to four years (at least) of divided government.
