A race that once looked like a comfortable win for a longtime Fresno County prosecutor-turned-defense attorney has flipped. Jose Salazar, a senior public defender who trailed on election night, now leads Jeffrey Hammerschmidt by 2,999 votes in the contest for Fresno County Superior Court judge Seat 7, with thousands of ballots still left to count.
The newest tally shows Salazar with 98,653 votes to Hammerschmidt's 95,654, putting Salazar at 50.77% of the expected vote against Hammerschmidt's 49.23%, according to the Fresno Bee. It's a sharp reversal from where things stood on election night, when Hammerschmidt held the advantage.
Salazar first pulled ahead in the count released after the November 3 election, having trailed by about 2,800 votes as of the November 5 count, the Fresno Bee reports. Fresno County's election-results page notes that election night results are semifinal official canvass results and should not be considered final, with each update time-stamped as it posts.
From a Primary Deficit to a General Election Lead
The turnaround marks a dramatic shift from June, when Hammerschmidt finished first in the primary with 48.90% of the vote, or 75,209 ballots, while Salazar trailed with 35.62%, according to a Yahoo News report. A Decision Desk HQ results page for the primary lists vote totals of 75,209 (48.90%), 54,780 (35.62%), and 23,800 (15.48%) for the Seat 7 race, though the page's extraction does not specify which entry belongs to which candidate.
Election night itself looked like it was trending Hammerschmidt's way too. GV Wire reported that Hammerschmidt held an initial 53% lead following the November 3 election before the numbers began moving toward Salazar. By 11:30 p.m. that night, per the same Yahoo report, Hammerschmidt's share had already slipped to 51.85% from 53% earlier in the evening, while Salazar's had climbed from 47% to 48.15%.
Thousands of Ballots Still Outstanding
Just how many ballots remain uncounted depends on which outlet you ask. The Fresno Bee put the remaining count at 36,900 ballots, while gvwire.com separately reported an estimated 38,759 votes still left to be tallied in the race as of November 10. Fresno County has said it plans to finish counting the remaining ballots before 5 p.m. on November 13.
Salazar, a native of Sanger who has practiced law for 14 years and serves as the senior defense attorney on the major crimes team at the Fresno County Public Defender's Office, told the Fresno Bee he was excited to lead and confident the momentum would continue. He also expressed gratitude to Fresno County residents for believing in and trusting him, per the same report.
Money and Endorsements Favored Hammerschmidt
Hammerschmidt, who served more than 12 years as a Fresno County deputy district attorney and now runs Hammerschmidt Law Corp. as a criminal defense attorney, significantly outraised his rival. The Fresno Bee reported Hammerschmidt's campaign brought in $88,201, compared with $17,576 for Salazar, and that Hammerschmidt also loaned his own campaign $40,000.
Hammerschmidt also collected a deeper bench of institutional endorsements heading into the race, including backing from the Fresno Police Officers Association, the Fresno County Prosecutors Association, and the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, according to the Fresno Bee's reporting. Salazar, meanwhile, was endorsed by the La Raza Lawyers Association, the Working Families Party, and the Professional Association of County Employees.
Despite trailing in both fundraising and endorsements, Salazar's vote-count surge has reshaped a race that once seemed to favor the better-funded candidate. Hammerschmidt was not reachable for comment Tuesday, the Fresno Bee reported, leaving Salazar's statement as the only campaign response on record as the final ballots are tabulated ahead of the county's November 13 deadline.
