Child sex offender drops outrageous claim after California bill to ban him from office fails

A registered child sex offender in California who sparked outrage earlier this year with his failed bid for Fresno City Council is celebrating after state lawmakers killed a bill that would have barred him — and others like him — from running for public office.

Rene Campos, who failed to collect the 20 signatures needed to qualify for the Fresno City Council ballot in March, hailed the demise of the legislation as a victory for constitutional rights.

“The First Amendment does not belong to the comfortable,” Campos told Fox26 News. “Today, the Senate Committee did what Fresno refused to do. It stopped and remembered the Constitution.”

Campos’ comments came after Assembly Bill 2753, which sought to prohibit registered sex offenders from seeking local or state elected office in California, failed Tuesday to advance out of the Senate Elections Committee for a vote to become the law of the land.

The high-profile legislation was introduced by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria after Campos’ controversial campaign drew statewide and national attention, with critics demanding California close what they called a loophole that allowed registered sex offenders to seek elected office.

Under the proposal, all registered sex offenders would have been barred from running for office, regardless of which tier of California’s sex offender registry they fell under.

The measure ultimately stalled after Soria and members of the Senate Elections Committee, chaired by Sen. Scott Wiener, failed to reach a compromise.

Committee members argued the bill was too broad because California’s three-tier sex offender registry includes offenders convicted of lower-level crimes.

Senators proposed limiting the ban to Tier 3 offenders, who must remain on the registry for life, but Soria rejected the amendments, arguing they undermined the purpose of the legislation.

California’s registry places offenders into three categories based on the severity and frequency of their crimes.

Tier 1 offenders must register for at least 10 years, Tier 2 offenders for at least 20 years, while Tier 3 offenders remain on the registry for life with no opportunity for removal.

“If you look at the crimes of people in Tier 1 and Tier 2, we need to draw the line somewhere, and I believe that if you’re a registered sex offender, you have no business running for local or state office without a compromise,” Soria told Fox News.

Campos became the face of the debate after announcing his candidacy for Fresno City Council despite pleading no contest in 2018 to a misdemeanor charge of possessing child sexual abuse material, which requires him to register as a sex offender.

His campaign triggered fierce backlash from fellow candidates and residents, who argued a registered sex offender should be disqualified from holding public office.

One rival questioned how Campos could effectively represent constituents when registered sex offenders face restrictions around schools, while another said anyone on the registry should be automatically barred from serving.

Campos also drew criticism after holding a campaign press conference just steps from an elementary school, prompting school officials to file a police report.

His campaign ultimately collapsed after he failed to gather the 20 nomination signatures required to appear on the ballot.

Despite that defeat, Campos argued the failed legislation exposed broader political motives.

“This was never just about one bill or one campaign. Fresno moved with remarkable speed when it wanted to gut an old Parks bill and turn it into a political weapon, yet the same urgency is missing on homelessness, housing, public safety, and the people begging City Hall for help,” Campos told Fox26 News.

“My CPRA investigations continue to show a deeper pattern around power, transparency, and whether Fresno officials used their positions to serve the public or protect themselves. So the real question is not why this bill failed. The real question is why Fresno was so willing to push it in the first place.”

Although AB 2753 is dead for now, Soria vowed to continue pursuing legislation to prevent registered sex offenders from running for public office.

“The fight continues. We don’t give up just because we lose once,” she said.

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