You knew it was coming from the moment community activist Sandra Celedon announced she was running for the Assembly seat held by termed-out fellow Democrat Joaquin Arambula.

“It” was the return of Celedon’s infamous social media reaction to the Minneapolis protests following the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in 2020.

“Burn it down. #BlackLivesMatter. No justice, no peace. Enough is enough,” the president and CEO of Fresno Building Healthy Communities tweeted after a Minneapolis police precinct was torched.

While that post might have made her a hero in some progressive quarters, it also made her a zero among moderate Democrats and Republicans. As the clock ticks toward the June 2 primary, a political action committee is making “Burn It Down” the focus of a campaign flyer and TV ads in the District 31 race.

Adding salt to the wound: The attack flyer and ads are the work of political action committee calling itself Fresno Healthy Communities, No on Celedon for State Assembly and Arambula for City Council 2026 and Yes on Polsgrove for Assembly 2026.

That name is illustrative of the rough and tumble nature of politics, as it borrows closely from the name of the nonprofit headed by Celedon. Will it confuse voters? I doubt it. Few read the  small type disclosure. But it is meant to goad Celedon and Arambula, who has endorsed her and is running for the Fresno City Council.

State election records show that the PAC is registered, but there are yet to be filings indicating the group’s donors.

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Who Will Make the Run-Off?

In addition to Celedon, the race includes another Democrat, sitting Fresno City Councilmember Annalisa Perea, and Republican Jim Polsgrove, who is a former city of Fresno public works supervisor.

Perea is the apparent front-runner in the race, having amassed a huge campaign fund and an impressive list of endorsements. As to who might finish second in the top-two primary, I would give the edge to Polsgrove despite his low profile because of Republican voter loyalty. The district’s registration is 43.45% Democrat, 23.82% Republican, and 23.95% No Party Preference.

Celedon doesn’t talk to GV Wire, but she has addressed “Burn It Down” in the past.

“Don’t judge me on a tweet – judge me on my actions,” she told The Fresno Bee in March 2025. “I didn’t go out and be destructive. I woke up the next day and went to work. That’s when I joined the advocacy efforts that led to the Black Lives Matter march that ultimately led to the Fresno Commission on Police Reform.”

Fresno’s Latest Walking Man: Fernando Alvarez

Arambula is the favorite in the District 3 city council campaign, but Fernando Alvarez — who grew up in southwest Fresno — is working hard to extend the campaign to a November run-off.

At age 21, he won a seat on the West Park Elementary School District school board. His work at the Fresno Chamber of Commerce has earned the support of that group’s CEO, Gazebo Gardens owner Scott Miller. One of Alvarez’s supporters told me that the young politician has already walked the district twice.

Winning by walking is a proven winning strategy in Fresno, even as the city continues to grow. No one had heard of Henry R. Perea in the late 1990s when he ran for city council, but he won a seat by relentlessly walking the neighborhoods.

“When you have no money, you have to walk,” Perea said. “I didn’t even have campaign brochures, so I wrote something out, ran off copies at Kinko’s and handed them out door-to-door.”

During that same era, political unknown Chris Mathys said he wore out nearly a half-dozen shoes while campaigning on foot for the northwest Fresno seat. That effort culminated with Mathys knocking out incumbent Linda Calandra.

More recently, we’ve seen Nick Richardson overcome attorney Roger Bonakdar’s overwhelming edge in funding and endorsements to win the open northeast seat in 2024. The secret sauce of Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld’s long political career is daily door-to-door campaigning. Even in summer’s torrid heat.

Why Walking Works

Why does knocking on doors work?

People want to meet the person seeking their vote. They want to ask questions and rate the responses. Appearance, delivery, personality, and where you stand on the issues matter, of course.

Ultimately, it’s an opportunity to form an emotional connection with voters. Those who are successful stand a good chance of winning.