Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig is wrapping up his second four-year term representing District 5, which covers part of Clovis and much of eastern Fresno County. After running unopposed in 2020, he is being challenged this year by political newcomer Jennifer “Jen” Cruz.

The Fresno Bee submitted questions to each of the candidates and asked each to respond with answers of in the neighborhood of 200 words if possible. Their responses are offered here, and presented in the order in which they were received.

Nathan Magsig

• Age: 47

• Occupation: Fresno County Supervisor / general contractor

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in criminology, master’s degree in criminology, master of business administration, all from California State University, Fresno.

• Other offices held: South West Project Area Committee chair; Clovis City Council; Clovis Mayor; Board of Supervisors.

• Campaign website: nathanmagsig.com

Q: About one out of every five residents in Fresno County has income that falls below the poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. How would you promote greater housing affordability?

The cost of labor, materials, insurance, litigation and environmental studies are all driving the cost of housing up. Housing affordability will improve as better paying jobs are created and more housing is constructed.

Fresno County is home to resources that are used to build housing (granite, rock, wood). The county needs to work with contractors that are operating sawmills and rock plants responsibly so we can properly manage the forest and use the wood and rock for construction projects. The excess wood could also be used for biomass and generate a reliable source of energy. Most of the construction materials used for construction projects come from other states and countries. Using the resources here in Fresno County will create good paying jobs, drive material prices down, reduce greenhouse gases and reduce wildfires. As the wildfire risk is reduced, so will the cost of insurance.

As a licensed general contractor, I have 20 years’ experience building affordable housing and I have witnessed how increasingly difficult it is to build homes.

Q: The average condition of roads in Fresno County is considered at “higher risk,” and in many cases is deemed “poor.” What steps would you take to work toward improving the county’s roads?

In the last four years, over $50 million has been spent on road and bridge repair and replacement projects. Of all the 58 counties in California, Fresno County has more roads to maintain than any other county. During the Creek Fire and the recent storms of 2023, our road crews repaired roads quickly and made sure all residents were safe. Our current board of supervisors is spending more on road replacement and repair than ever before. More work needs to be done. I have been working on securing additional federal funds to improve Millerton Road in addition to other county projects.

Q. How would you work toward bringing higher-paying job opportunities that are accessible to a wide array of Fresno County residents?

I have promoted trade programs in the construction and automotive industries, and while I was on the Clovis City Council I assisted in bringing CHSU to the Clovis RT park as well as assisted with the buildout of Clovis Medical Center. Moving forward, the county needs to partner with Fresno State so more of their graduates (engineers, social workers, criminologists, agriculture majors, etc) can use their degrees here.

Jennifer Cruz

• Age: 46

• Occupation: Nonprofit manager

• Education: Associate of science degree in substance abuse disorder counseling, Fresno City College; bachelor’s degree in psychology, California State University, Fresno; master’s degree in human services; current third-year law student

• Other offices held: None

• Campaign website: voteforjencruz.com

Q: About one out of every five residents in Fresno County has income that falls below the poverty level. However, the average market-rate apartment rent rose by almost 43% in the Fresno metro area since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. How would you promote greater housing affordability?

At the county level, prioritize and access state and federal funds to improve the housing crisis. There is money available that could be allocated to the problem of unaffordable rent, rental supply and demand and even support for first-time buyers of property. Create incentives for property owners and/or subsidies for tenant protection to protect working families from losing their homes and property owners from losing money that would prevent them from making mortgage payments on their owned property.

Q: The average condition of roads in Fresno County is considered at “higher risk,” and in many cases is deemed “poor.” What steps would you take to work toward improving the county’s roads?

Listen to resident concerns about roads and hazards that exist and then act on that information to work with the county’s maintenance and operations and public works departments, Caltrans, unions, and other partners to prioritize county tax dollars so they will be used to make roads safe for Fresno County residents. Create accountability for Measure C dollars, which have primarily been used for highway expansion with no financial accountability from city boards or the current county supervisors. Since 1986, $30 billion has been collected and financial records have been inaccessible to the community while roads continue to be unsafe and public transportation ineffective or nonexistent in many rural areas of Fresno County.

Q. How would you work toward bringing higher-paying job opportunities that are accessible to a wide array of Fresno County residents?

Stop contracting out union work to corporations and developers that do not pay a living wage, support local small businesses, create community gardens, community art projects, and spaces for collaboration and creativity. Grow pathways for trade careers for young people, opportunities for aging people who still want to contribute to the community, encourage new entrepreneurship through access to new business grants. Allow county departments to write grants and access state and federal funds to improve mental health, department of social services, and public health services. If we do not take care of our community who are over 50% on Medi-Cal, we will never improve jobs, housing, or educational deficiencies.