Fresno City Council Candidate Rene Campos, a Registered Sex Offender, Enters District 7 Race

A registered sex offender convicted of possessing child sex abuse material is now running for Fresno City Council District 7 — and he has no plans to step aside.

Rene Campos, a Fresno native, announced his candidacy for the District 7 seat (covering Old Fig Garden, East Central Fresno, and parts of Southeast Fresno) earlier this year. He plead no contest in 2021 to a 2018 misdemeanor charge of possessing child pornography and served two years of formal probation. He remains on the sex offender registry under California’s Megan’s Law requirements.

In interviews with local media, Campos has been remarkably upfront — not out of shame, but as a selling point. “I believe Fresno deserves leaders who are honest from the very beginning, not the end,” he told ABC30. “I’ve been given a chance to rehabilitate through the courts and go back into the system.” His campaign slogan? “You are not your past.” He claims his conviction gives him unique insight into “reforming the laws that we are trying to reform right now” and positions himself as the candidate who “knows the system from the inside out” to focus on “safety” and “protect the vulnerable.”

Fresno County Clerk James Kus confirmed to reporters that California law imposes no barrier: registered sex offenders can run for office once they regain voting rights.



https://californiaglobe.com/fl/fresno-city-council-candidate-rene-campos-a-registered-sex-offender-enters-district-7-race/