Seven candidates vie to replace Miguel Arias in Fresno District 3

The race to replace Miguel Arias became one of Fresno’s most consequential city contests because District 3 is where homelessness, public safety, downtown investment and neighborhood services collide most visibly. Seven candidates entered the field for the seat that covers parts of southwest Fresno and downtown Fresno, including Chinatown and the Tower District, giving voters a sharp choice over who should steer one of City Hall’s most politically loaded districts.

Fresno City Council District 3 was on the June 2, 2026 primary ballot, with a November 3, 2026 general election if no one won outright. The city says council members serve four-year terms and cannot serve more than two successive terms without sitting out an intervening term. Candidates also had to be residents of the district and registered voters, and residency verification for the 2026 race could first begin on December 11, 2025. District 3 was one of the city’s odd-numbered council seats up in the same cycle as Districts 1, 5 and 7.

Ballotpedia listed the seven candidates as Fernando Alvarez, Tiffany Apodaca, Joaquin Arambula, Larry Burrus, Charles Montoya, Jalen Swank and Keshia Thomas. FresnoLand described the contest as the most crowded race on the June ballot, and that crowding made the outcome especially sensitive to turnout, endorsements and name recognition as Miguel Arias prepared to leave office at the end of the year.

Among the field, Tiffany Apodaca offered the clearest personal and policy profile. She was the crisis response manager at the Marjaree Mason Center and a co-founder of Breaking the Chains. Apodaca said her own experience couch surfing as a child shaped how she thinks about leadership and service. Her priorities centered on more town halls, a deeper grasp of the city budget and a sharper focus on public-safety service providers and homelessness. She also said she wanted to stay aligned with the Southwest Fresno Specific Plan and with what the community originally wanted when that plan was drawn up.

Joaquin Arambula brought the kind of state experience that can matter in a local race where city departments, county systems and Sacramento all overlap. The Fresno Bee endorsed a District 3 candidate with state experience, underscoring the appeal of a lawmaker who could arrive at City Hall already fluent in bigger government. For voters weighing the field, that contrast mattered: Apodaca signaled a community-advocacy approach rooted in neighborhood engagement and budget literacy, while Arambula represented a more institutional resume. With Alvarez, Burrus, Montoya, Swank and Thomas also in the mix, the seat remained open enough for the winner to define what District 3 gets next, and how fast change reaches the streets of southwest and downtown Fresno.