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Ballot Explained

Appellate courts · November 3, 2026

Who's on the appellate court ballot in California

2 candidates are on the ballot. One ballot can carry several appellate seats, and the note below sets out which contest is which. For each judge: the record, any official performance evaluation, and the arguments published for and against them.

Researched by Ballot Explained and checked against the sources cited on this page. Last updated . How we research · Report a correction

Candidates
2
Sitting judges
2 of 2
On the ballot
No party label
State primary
Jun 2

Candidates appear in ballot order. We do not rank them, score them, or recommend one — here is how this is put together, and here is what the office actually does.

What is on this ballot

California does not hold contested elections for appellate judges. The governor appoints them, the Commission on Judicial Appointments confirms them, and after that they face voters only in yes-or-no retention questions printed without a party label — which is why no party is listed below. The ballot asks “Shall Associate Justice X be elected to the office for the term provided by law?” A majority of yes votes means a new term; a majority of no votes creates a vacancy the governor fills. California holds these votes at gubernatorial general elections, so they come round every four years, and 2026 is one of those years. The Secretary of State’s certified list for November 3, 2026 contains 63 appellate retention questions. Two are statewide and every California voter votes on them: Supreme Court Associate Justice Kelli M. Evans, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022, and Associate Justice Joshua Groban, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018. Those two are profiled below. The other 61 are Court of Appeal justices, voted on only by the counties in their appellate district, and they are listed here rather than profiled individually — profiling sixty-one uncontested retention questions would make the page unreadable, and there is almost no published assessment of any of them. By district, as the certified list prints them: First Appellate District (Bay Area) — Charles A. Smiley, Kathleen M. Banke, Monique Langhorne Wilson, Therese M. Stewart, Tara M. Desautels, Ioana Petrou, Victor A. Rodriguez, Tracie L. Brown, Mark Simons, Danny Y. Chou and Gordon Burns. Second Appellate District (Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo) — Michelle C. Kim, Gregory J. Weingart, Steve Goorvitch, Anne Richardson, Rashida A. Adams, Mark Hanasono, Helen Zukin, Audra M. Mori, Nicholas Daum, Armen Tamzarian, Brian M. Hoffstadt, Tari L. Cody, Kenneth R. Yegan, Gonzalo C. Martinez, Natalie Stone, John Wiley, Matthew A. Scherb and Victor G. Viramontes. Third Appellate District (Sacramento and northeastern California) — Shama Mesiwala, Lauri Damrell, Stacy Boulware Eurie, Aimee A. Feinberg and Jonathan Renner. Fourth Appellate District (San Diego, Inland Empire, Orange County) — Eran M. Bermudez, Jose S. Castillo, Truc T. Do, David M. Rubin, William S. Dato, Julia C. Kelety, Corey G. Lee, Michael J. Raphael, Joanne Motoike, Nathan R. Scott, Juliet O. Macaulay, Martha K. Gooding, Thomas A. Delaney and Deborah C. Servino. Fifth Appellate District (central San Joaquin Valley) — Arlan L. Harrell, Sonny S. Sandhu, Amy K. Guerra, Kathleen A. Meehan, Mark W. Snauffer and Thomas DeSantos. Sixth Appellate District (Santa Clara and the central coast) — Daniel H. Bromberg, Charles E. Wilson II, Charles F. Adams and Allison Marston Danner. Three of the 63 questions could not be read cleanly from the certified list because the text broke across pages, so that roster is 58 of the 61 Court of Appeal names. California has no official judicial performance evaluation commission and no statewide bar rating of retention candidates, and justices are barred from campaigning for themselves, so there is very little published material on any of these questions. Voters have removed California justices at a retention election exactly once, in 1986.

2 candidates · ballot order · Kelli M. Evans currently holds this seat

Medium confidenceMedium confidenceThe candidate's stated positions and basic record are documented, but coverage is thin — often little independent reporting, or criticism from only one side.What would raise it: More independent reporting, a documented voting record, or published criticism from a named opponent would raise this.

What they say they stand for

Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.

  • Nothing documented in the sources reviewed.

What they’ve actually done

Documented record from official sources.

  • Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California, appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022.
  • Judge, Alameda County Superior Court, before her appointment to the Supreme Court.
  • Chief deputy legal affairs secretary to Governor Gavin Newsom.
  • Earlier career in civil rights law and public defence, including work at the State Bar of California.
  • California Supreme Court justices are appointed by the governor, confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, and then face retention questions at gubernatorial general elections. They are barred from campaigning for themselves.

We found no published arguments for or against this candidate.

What we couldn’t verify

  • No organised campaign either for or against Evans’s retention was found. Sources checked: CalMatters, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Bay Area Reporter, Horvitz & Levy’s appellate practice commentary and the Commission on Judicial Performance.
  • California has no official judicial performance evaluation commission and no statewide bar rating of retention candidates, so no professional assessment of her exists to report.
  • No independent analysis of her published opinions was found.
Sources (4)⌄
  1. 1Official Certified List of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election — California Secretary of State — elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov
  2. 2Which CA Supreme Court justices are up for election in 2026? — CalMatters — calmatters.org
  3. 3Justices of the California Supreme Court — Elections and Terms of Office, California Secretary of State — elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov
  4. 4Editorial: Retain California justices — Bay Area Reporter — ebar.com

What they say they stand for

Their own words. Claims, not verified facts.

  • Nothing documented in the sources reviewed.

What they’ve actually done

Documented record from official sources.

  • Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California, appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018 to complete the term of a retiring justice; retained by voters in 2018.
  • Senior policy adviser to Governor Jerry Brown, where he handled judicial appointments.
  • Private practice litigator in antitrust and intellectual property before entering state government.
  • California Supreme Court justices are appointed by the governor, confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, and then face retention questions at gubernatorial general elections. They are barred from campaigning for themselves.

We found no published arguments for or against this candidate.

What we couldn’t verify

  • No organised campaign either for or against Groban’s retention was found. Sources checked: CalMatters, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Bay Area Reporter, Horvitz & Levy’s appellate practice commentary and the Commission on Judicial Performance.
  • California has no official judicial performance evaluation commission and no statewide bar rating of retention candidates, so no professional assessment of him exists to report.
  • No independent analysis of his published opinions was found.
Sources (4)⌄
  1. 1Official Certified List of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election — California Secretary of State — elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov
  2. 2Which CA Supreme Court justices are up for election in 2026? — CalMatters — calmatters.org
  3. 3Justices of the California Supreme Court — Elections and Terms of Office, California Secretary of State — elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov
  4. 4Editorial: Retain California justices — Bay Area Reporter — ebar.com

Positions and criticism are quoted from the named sources, not our assessments. This is built to help you start getting informed — confirm the official candidate list with your election authority before you vote.

This is one contest on a longer ballot

A California ballot also carries state legislative districts, county offices, judicial seats and often local questions — and which of them you vote on is decided by your street address, not your city or ZIP code.

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