Brandon Vang is now Fresno City Councilmember-elect.

In results certified by Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters James Kus on Friday morning, Vang — an elected Sanger Unified school board member — won 50.19% of the vote in the March 18 special election for District 5. Because Vang won a majority, no runoff is necessary in the special election.

With 2,324 votes, Vang finished nine votes above the majority needed to win the southeast Fresno seat outright.

He is expected to be sworn in Thursday, when the council votes to accept the election results. Vang will become the second Hmong-American to serve on the council. Blong Xiong served from 2007 through 2015.

“Through it all, we stayed true to our values and centered the voices of our neighbors. I’m honored and humbled by the trust this community has placed in me,” Vang said in a statement.

Fresno Unified school board member Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas finished second with 35.01% of the vote.

Vang succeeds Luis Chavez, who left office in the middle of his term in District 5 after his election to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors in November. He is married to Jonasson Rosas.

“I congratulate Brandon and wish him the best in tackling District 5’s needs and challenges in the upcoming months,” Jonasson Rosas told GV Wire.

The remaining results saw nonprofit leader Jose Leon Barraza third with 12.27%, Paul Condon fourth with 2.29%, and write-in candidate Nickolas Wildstar with 0.24%.

Turnout was 12.96%.

The last results Kus tabulated were about 60 voters curing their signatures. That means fixing problems such as forgetting to sign the ballot or a signature that didn’t match what was on file.

Election Lowlighted by Mailer

The talk of the special election was a campaign mailer sent by an independent expenditure group attacking Vang. It accused him of statutory rape, fathering a child in 1993 with a minor female.

Vang and his wife, May Lee, in a GV Wire interview, said he was 20 and she was 15 when they had their child. They have raised a family since, marrying in 1995. Vang was never investigated for statutory rape, he said, and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office confirmed his statement.

The group behind the mailer, Fresno Future Forward, remained a mystery. Only after GV Wire asked questions and City Attorney Andrew Janz launched an investigation, did the group file its necessary campaign paperwork.

The filings, though, did not answer who was behind the group, or where it received its funding. GV Wire investigated further, linking the group to local political consultant Alex Tavlian.

Tavlian, through his public affairs firm, Local Government Strategic Consulting, signed a $100,000 contract with District 5 to provide “strategic communications and public relations services.”

Chavez signed the contract — through Dec. 31, 2025 — this past December, on his way out of office.

Vang’s campaign manager, Pedro Ramirez, said that contract will be cancelled.

“That’s gone. That should have never happened,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said Vang will likely hire his own District 5 staff, replacing those who remain in the office even after Chavez left.

Related Story: Is Fresno Political Consultant Alex Tavlian Behind Election Attack Mailer?

What About a Recount?

Any registered voter in California — even a voter not connected to the election — may request a recount. Requests must come within five days after certification — by Wednesday, April 9, at 5 p.m.

Kus said a recount request would not affect certification status.

“If a recount occurs and the winner changes (or if the leading candidate drops to 50% or less), then a re-certification of the recounted contests occurs,” Kus said.

The certification would stand if a recount does not change the results, even if the numbers do change, Kus said.

There is no legal timeline to complete a recount request, but Kus said based on the volume in the special election, all votes could be counted in about eight hours — at least one full day and a part of a second day.

“A request for a recount might cause a jurisdiction to delay their declaration of the results but that decision is up to the jurisdiction,” Kus said.

It is unclear how a recount request would affect the city council considering approval of certification next Thursday.

The last recount in a Fresno City Council election happened in 2018, when District 3 candidate Daren Miller requested the examination after a third-place finish in the primary by six votes.

The recount did not change the results, and Miguel Arias eventually defeated second-place primary finisher Tate Hill in the general election.