Maria Pacheco, the Mayor of Kerman, is running for Fresno County Board of Supervisors District 1 in the November 2026 election against Fresno City Council President Mike Karbassi. Born and raised in Kerman, she earned her GED before going on to earn an associate’s and bachelor’s degree in social work from Fresno State, and was working toward a master’s in social work as of the campaign. She works as a senior field representative for Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria and has done community engagement and nonprofit work supporting at-risk youth. She became the first Latina elected to the Kerman City Council, then was elected mayor in November 2022 by a margin of just 90 votes, becoming the first Latina of indigenous roots to hold the office.
As mayor, Pacheco says she helped secure roughly $4 million in state and city funding within her first 100 days in office and led a three-year effort that launched a free shuttle connecting Kerman students to Fresno City College. The seat she is now seeking is open because incumbent Brian Pacheco, no relation, is not running for re-election and is instead running for State Assembly. She finished second in the June 2026 primary behind Karbassi. Her platform emphasizes affordable housing, prevention-focused homelessness services, farmer water access, opposition to large-scale sprawl development in favor of infill housing, and support for California’s sanctuary-state law.
