The Ballot Brief
California judges

November 2026

Judges 2026 › California › Judges on the ballot

Judges on the California ballot in November 2026

California voters see 64 retention questions, 4 county-level judicial races in the counties we track on the November 3, 2026 ballot in the races The Ballot Brief tracks. Retention questions are a yes-or-no vote on keeping a sitting judge; elected seats work like any other race.

Judicial retention votes: yes or no on keeping a judge

California Supreme Court and Court of Appeal justices are appointed by the governor (subject to confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments) and then face a statewide (Supreme Court) or district-wide (Court of Appeal) yes/no retention election at the next general election after appointment, and again every 12 years if reappointed; a majority yes vote retains the justice.

California Supreme Court

Kelli M. Evans

Retention: yes or no

Joshua Groban

Retention: yes or no

California Court of Appeal

Charles A. Smiley

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 1

Kathleen M. Banke

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 1

Monique Langhorne Wilson

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 1

Therese M. Stewart

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 2

Tara M. Desautels

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 2

Ioana Petrou

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 3

Victor A. Rodriguez

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 3

Tracie L. Brown

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 4

Mark Simons

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 5

Danny Y. Chou

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 5

Gordon Burns

Retention: yes or noFirst Appellate District, Division 5

Michelle C. Kim

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 1

Gregory J. Weingart

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 1

Steve Goorvitch

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 2

Anne Richardson

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 2

Rashida A. Adams

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 3

Mark Hanasono

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 3

Helen Zukin

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 4

Audra M. Mori

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 4

Nicholas Daum

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 4

Armen Tamzarian

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 4

Brian M. Hoffstadt

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 5

Tari L. Cody

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 6

Kenneth R. Yegan

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 6

Gonzalo C. Martinez

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 7

Natalie Stone

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 7

John Wiley

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 8

Matthew A. Scherb

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 8

Victor G. Viramontes

Retention: yes or noSecond Appellate District, Division 8

Laurie Earl

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

Shama Mesiwala

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

David B. Sapp

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

Lauri Damrell

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

Stacy Boulware Eurie

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

Aimee A. Feinberg

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

Jonathan Renner

Retention: yes or noThird Appellate District

Eran M. Bermudez

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

Jose S. Castillo

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

Truc T. Do

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

Lisa Rodriguez

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

David M. Rubin

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

William S. Dato

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

Julia C. Kelety

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 1

Corey G. Lee

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 2

Michael J. Raphael

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 2

Joanne Motoike

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 3

Nathan R. Scott

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 3

Juliet O. Macaulay

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 3

Martha K. Gooding

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 3

Thomas A. Delaney

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 3

Deborah C. Servino

Retention: yes or noFourth Appellate District, Division 3

Arlan L. Harrell

Retention: yes or noFifth Appellate District

Sonny S. Sandhu

Retention: yes or noFifth Appellate District

Amy K. Guerra

Retention: yes or noFifth Appellate District

Kathleen A. Meehan

Retention: yes or noFifth Appellate District

Mark W. Snauffer

Retention: yes or noFifth Appellate District

Thomas DeSantos

Retention: yes or noFifth Appellate District

Daniel H. Bromberg

Retention: yes or noSixth Appellate District

Charles E. Wilson II

Retention: yes or noSixth Appellate District

Charles F. Adams

Retention: yes or noSixth Appellate District

Frederick S. Chung

Retention: yes or noSixth Appellate District

Allison Marston Danner

Retention: yes or noSixth Appellate District

Source: elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov, as of 2026-09-04.

County and trial-court judicial races we track

Trial judges, county courts and other judicial offices from the county pages we have built (1 counties so far). Each link opens that race's page.

Everything else on your California ballot · Your exact ballot by ZIP code