Fresno County Judge Race Narrows. Will Hammerschmidt Face a Runoff?

The latest election update in one Fresno County Superior Court judge race has added drama and a potential November runoff.

The latest update, posted Tuesday night, showed Jeffrey Hammerschmidt’s share of votes at 49.58%, which is below the 50% threshold to win seat No. 7 outright. If the criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor — best known, perhaps, for prosecuting the high-profile, triple homicide Dana Ewell case in the 1990s — cannot regain a majority, he’ll face Jose Salazar, a public defender, in November.

Salazar is second with 34.88% of the vote, followed by attorney Curtis Sok at 15.26% to The race still has about 35,000 votes left to count.

Through May 16, Hammerschmidt had spent $81,433 on his campaign compared to Salazar’s $13,568, according to the California Secretary of State website.

Runoff Likely Between Paulson and Ueltzen, Too

In a highly competitive race for the No. 6 seat on the bench, Ashley Paulson, a former DA’s prosecutor who is the city of Fresno’s chief assistant attorney and chief prosecutor, has 47.12% and Fresno County senior deputy district attorney Steven Ueltzen is at 29.84%. Public defender Deidre Adams is third (22.80%).

Vote to Be 95% Complete by Thursday

Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters James Kus told GV Wire that all regular vote-by-mail ballots have gone through the signature verification process. He expects the tabulation to be 95% completed by Thursday at 5 p.m.

See all the updated Fresno County results at this link.

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