Fresno County District 1 candidates debate Measure C, growth, and data centers

Measure C, data centers and farm land took center stage as six candidates for Fresno County Supervisor District 1 met Monday night in downtown Fresno, turning the race into a practical test of how the county should pay for roads, manage growth and protect services. The forum, held at Community Media Access Collaborative headquarters and moderated by Blake Zante of The Maddy Institute, gave voters a chance to weigh choices before ballots were scheduled to go out the week of May 4.

That timing matters. The first voting center opens May 4 at the Fresno County Elections Office in downtown Fresno, and the election ends June 2. For voters trying to sort out the District 1 field, the forum showed that the next supervisor will help shape decisions that reach far beyond campaign slogans and into daily county life.

At the center of the debate was Measure C, Fresno County’s half-cent transportation sales tax. Voters first approved it in 1986 and renewed it in 2006, and county and Fresno Council of Governments materials say the current program expires in June 2027. The 2022 renewal plan projected more than $6.84 billion over 30 years, or about $228 million a year, for pothole repair, bridge and overpass work, highway safety, emergency access, air quality, transit, senior transportation and local jobs.

That money fight is not abstract. Fresno COG had been preparing a new Measure C extension for the November 2026 ballot, but its policy board voted 9-3 on Jan. 7 to discontinue that effort. In April, an alternative half-cent transportation sales tax initiative, Better Roads Safe Streets, submitted more than 32,000 signatures, keeping the issue alive even as county leaders argued over the best path forward.

For District 1, the stakes are wider than transportation. The forum also turned to development, agriculture, healthcare, budget pressures and data centers, the kinds of issues that shape whether Fresno County grows around its existing communities or pushes harder into open land. In a district that includes both urban and rural interests, those decisions affect how much land stays in production, how quickly business expansion moves, and whether county government can keep pace on roads and services.

The six candidates, including Brian Pacheco, had to make their case in a race that is about more than a seat on the board. It is about whether Fresno County uses its next supervisor to press for road funding, steer growth, defend agricultural land and keep county services from falling further behind.