Mike Karbassi represents District 2 on the Fresno City Council, first elected in 2019 and re-elected since. His peers elected him Council President in 2025 and again in 2026, making him the first councilmember to serve two consecutive terms in that role in over 20 years, though he resigned the presidency in March 2026 ahead of contentious land-use hearings while remaining on the council. Born and raised in Fresno, he holds a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State and has a background as a small businessman active in the Fresno Rotary Club.
In the 2026 election cycle, Karbassi initially announced a campaign against incumbent Registrar of Voters James Kus, criticizing Kus’s administration over 2024 election problems including misdirected ballots and a lost drop-box key, but later dropped that race in favor of a run for the Fresno County Board of Supervisors’ District 1 seat, finishing first in the June 2026 primary ahead of a November runoff. In February 2026, Councilmember Miguel Arias publicly accused Karbassi and city staff of colluding to schedule two controversial land-use items together in a way that benefited industrial developers, calling the maneuver “dirty.” In 2025, as Council President, Karbassi said he did not think it was worth investigating allegations that a former councilmember misused city funds to support his wife’s campaign for his vacated seat. He also filed a defamation lawsuit against Councilmember Esmeralda Soria, which a judge dismissed after granting Soria’s motion to strike it as an improper attempt to suppress protected speech.
