Rene Campos, a registered sex offender, has launched a campaign to represent Fresno, California’s District 7, ABC30 reported Wednesday.
Campos, who was charged with possession of child sexual abuse material in 2018, says his campaign will focus on safety. Campos told ABC30 he has “experienced the laws” his team is “trying to reform.”
“They say let’s choose somebody outside the box, somebody who knows the system from inside out,” Campos said in the interview, “because me, I’ve experienced the laws that we are trying to reform right now.” His campaign website mentions reducing violent crime and “clean, safe neighborhoods.”
The candidate, who was initially charged with a felony count of possessing child sexual abuse material, only served 27 days in prison according to court records, with the rest of his sentence being served as “treatment” or rehabilitation.
When asked by the Daily Caller News Foundation for comment, Campos replied, “I know what it means to face consequences.”
“I also know what it takes to rebuild. When a 15-year-old believes his life is over because of a mistake, that is more than a headline — it’s a test of whether our system balances accountability with prevention and long-term safety,” Campos told the DCNF. “Protecting children means enforcing consequences, reducing repeat harm, and building policies that prevent more damage in the first place. Public safety must be about outcomes, not outrage.”
Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus told ABC30 that Campos’ status as a registered sex offender does not disqualify him from running for office. After serving a sentence, ex-convicts “actually are allowed in California to reapply and become a registered voter again, which would then make you eligible to be able to run as long as you are living in the proper jurisdiction.”
Another candidate for District 7, Nav Gurm, said he believes being a registered sex offender “should be a disqualifier” to serve as a city council member.
“If I’m the next council member in District 7 and I can’t show up at a school sight,” Gurm said, “how can I best represent the people in the neighborhoods I want to serve?”
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