In any language, Nick Richardson close to stunning upset in Fresno city council race | Opinion
For insight into why Nick Richardson could pull off one of the biggest stunners in the recent history of Fresno politics, I suggest sitting down for a conversation.
But first you’d have to choose a language. Besides English, the Fresno City Council candidate is either fluent, semi-conversational or knows enough words “to get by” in French, Spanish, Russian, German, Korean, Tagalog and Swahili.
“During the campaign it’s been great,” Richardson said. “You can really see it make a difference when you talk to someone who is uncomfortable with English and can greet them in their native language. It makes a world of difference.”
Richardson’s ability to connect with the voters of northeast Fresno might be enough to overcome overwhelming financial and political odds. With thousands of ballots still to be processed, the Marine reserve officer holds a slim 259-vote lead over attorney Roger Bonakdar in what has been a see-saw battle to represent District 6.
In the latest count posted by the Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters on Thursday afternoon, Richardson had 50.49% out of the 23,091 votes cast in their race while Bonakdar had 49.37%. Bonakdar held a slim lead throughout most of Tuesday’s election night.
“We’re very careful in this family not to count our chickens before they hatch,” Richardson said in a Wednesday phone interview. “It’s a really good spot to be in and I hope that we can hold this, but we’re strapped to this roller-coaster and we’ll ride it till the last ballot is counted.”
That may yet take a number of days, or weeks.
Bonakdar was considered a massive favorite in the race of first-time candidates. His $413,000 in campaign contributions dwarfed the $45,000 that Richardson took in. Bonakdar also had the political establishment’s backing. His long list of endorsements includes the Fresno County GOP, Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni, former Fresno Mayor Lee Brand and Fresno City Councilmembers Annalisa Perea, Tyler Maxwell and Mike Karbassi.
None of that may end up mattering when the next city council is seated in January.
“It’s humbling and refreshing to be in this position, considering everything we have been up against for these last 21 months,” Richardson said. “It’s really encouraging knowing that the people of northeast Fresno are the people we know they are.”
‘Genuine passion’ for languages
Upon first meeting Richardson, he was nothing like my stereotypical idea of a 33-year-old Buchanan High graduate who served as a combat helicopter pilot in the US Marines Corps. He had a much more worldly, cosmopolitan viewpoint that I expected, which can be traced to a “genuine passion” for languages.
Richardson spent much of his childhood in Germany, where his father coached pro basketball. He was also exposed to Spanish at an early age through relatives on his mother’s side. Richardson went on to study French in both high school and college and even took a semester of Russian because “it had an interesting-looking alphabet and I decided to apply myself to that.”
When Richardson enlisted in the Marines, he did so intending to become an interpreter only to find out that job was for enlisted members and not officers like himself.
“That dream was shattered so I decided to take the consolation prize and go be a combat helicopter pilot,” he said. “Turns out when you are in a unit that is actively projecting itself around the world, the need for interpreters and competence in foreign languages really makes itself apparent. So that’s what I started doing.”
“Now a lot of my responsibilities (are) in Africa being that I’m the only fluent and registered French interpreter in my unit,” he said.
Richardson said he was unaware the vote count flipped in his favor late Tuesday evening until a reporter phoned him up and asked how he felt about being in the lead.
“I spit out my Dr Pepper and was like, ‘Hang on a minute,’ ” he said.
Richardson won’t be parked beside a computer monitor waiting for the next update, either. He plans to spend Thursday afternoon traveling to Los Angeles to celebrate the Marines Corps’ 249th birthday with members of his reserve unit.
“I’m feeling optimistic,” Richardson said. “I am both honored and humbled to be in the position that I am currently in.”
The position of being on the verge of upsetting Fresno’s political apple cart.
This story was originally published November 6, 2024 at 4:24 PM.
