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In a California congressional race, there’s a fight over whether a candidate can be called ‘retired’ on the ballot

March 25, 2026

In California elections, three little words can mean so much.

We’re not talking about a term of endearment, but rather the three words candidates can use to describe their occupation or background. Besides a political party, the ballot designation is the only description a voter sees of a candidate. It can note whether candidates are the incumbent or succinctly describe their principal occupation.

In the race for California’s 40th Congressional District, it’s the use of the word “retired” that has caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

Esther Kim Varet filed a legal challenge to fellow Democratic contender Joe Kerr’s suggested ballot designation of “retired firefighter captain” last week.

Kerr, a longtime firefighter and union leader, has used that ballot designation in previous campaigns, including in 2024 when he ran for Congress.

But Kim Varet said Kerr has held multiple paid positions — ones that could be considered “principal” roles — since retiring 14 years ago as a firefighter.

‘Precious real estate’

A ballot designation is only three words, and in this case, it’s just one, “retired,” that has put two candidates at odds and in court.

But ballot designations are incredibly important to candidates — whether it’s their own or an opponent’s — because “the space on the ballot that those three words occupy is very precious real estate,” said Justin Levitt, a constitutional law and elections expert who teaches at Loyola Law School.

“They’re often among the last words that a voter sees before casting a vote, and for voters on the fence (or voters who don’t have a lot of information about the candidates), they can in some circumstances be persuasive,” said Levitt.

“I don’t want to pretend that those three little words are the only things voters pay attention to, but in close races, they can matter,” he added.

“So candidates work hard, from among the descriptions that they think are accurate, to get the ballot designations that they think will be most favorable to them, and opposing candidates work hard to point out ways in which those designations may run afoul of the rules if they think the designations are a little too favorable,” Levitt said.

The California secretary of state has a whole list of rules and regulations pertaining to what candidates can use for a ballot designation.

When it comes to the word “retired,” candidates can include it as long as they worked in that job for more than five years, are eligible to collect retirement benefits or pension, are at least 55 years old and voluntarily left that position, according to the rules.

Candidates cannot use “retired” on their ballot designation if “that candidate possesses another more recent, intervening principal profession, vocation or occupation,” the secretary of state’s rules stipulate.

Kerr confirmed he retired about 14 years ago after a 34-year career in which he rose to the rank of fire captain, but he said the issue of his ballot designation had been raised in past election cycles, yet was never sustained. He’s confident that the designation is accurate and consistent with the state’s guidelines.

“It’s disappointing to see time and energy spent on technical challenges like this when voters are looking for leadership on real issues like cost of living, public safety and wildfire prevention,” Kerr said.

Kim Varet, meanwhile, said she filed the petition with the court because it was the right thing to do.

“Joe Kerr has been lying to voters, and we won’t let him get away with it,” she said in a statement.

“While I respect his past service, Kerr left the fire department 14 years ago and has since held a string of paid consulting jobs and corporate officerships, including nearly $400,000 in salary from a Nevada corporation. Calling yourself ‘retired’ after all of that is simply dishonest,” Kim Varet, an art dealer, said.

According to the court filing, Kerr served as director and secretary for Rapid Response to Carbon Ignitition, a Nevada-based company that works in emergency wildfire consulting, from 2020 to 2023.

Kerr said this was a startup company to which he provided subject matter expertise on wildfire cameras in California. This was in correlation to the work he did as a fire captain, Kerr said.

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In 2020, Kerr was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, where he served as vice chair in the Santa Ana region until the end of 2022. In this role, he was responsible for enforcing water quality and cleanup objectives in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, he said in a previous interview.

Kerr acknowledged that he has “remained in active public service,” but none of his roles could be considered a principal occupation. Those roles, he said, have included “sharing my experience and expertise on issues related to firefighter occupational safety, wildfire prevention and environmental protection.”

“Like many retirees, some of this work has included occasional paid roles, but being paid for occasional work does not make it a profession,” Kerr said. “These activities have been intermittent, not continuous, and not a principal occupation.”

Kerr said he stepped down as president of the Orange County Professional Firefighters upon his retirement, helping to establish a requirement that only active-duty firefighters can serve in that role. He then assisted the organization in limited, as-needed capacities, but that did not rise to the level of full-time or continuous employment, Kerr said.

But Kim Varet’s attorneys argued the work constitutes more than just “occasional” roles here and there.

“Mere retirement from a position in the past does not entitle a candidate to describe that position in his ballot designation unless that candidate has truly retired from the workforce,” they said in the legal petition.

“The right of voters in California’s 40th Congressional District to be accurately informed about the candidates who seek to represent them, and to not be misled by materials issued by the state and county, will be irreparably injured if Kerr is permitted to use the ballot designation ‘Retired Firefighter Captain’ on the June 2, 2026, ballot,” they said.

A hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning, the same day the secretary of state is set to publish a certified list of candidates, in Sacramento Superior Court.

The race for California’s 40th Congressional District is one of the most-watched House battles in the 2026 primary elections.

Redistricting this year pitted two Republican incumbents, Reps. Ken Calvert and Young Kim, against each other in the race for this new district that includes communities in Orange County and the Inland Empire.

Should this congressional district have existed in 2024, President Donald Trump would have won it by 12 points, according to the Cook Political Report’s election analysis. More than 40% of registered voters in the district are registered Republicans, whereas 31% are registered Democrats and 21% are no party preference, according to the latest data from the California secretary of state.

On the Democratic side, three candidates representing different factions of the party — Kim Varet, Kerr and attorney Lisa Ramirez — qualified for the endorsement vote from the state party, but none cleared the 60% threshold needed to get the party’s backing. Although with nearly 53%, Ramirez came close.

Also running are Democrats Francis Xavier Hoffman and Claude Keissieh, as well as independent Nina Linh.

Kerr lost to Kim, the Republican incumbent, in the 2024 general election, earning 44.7% of the vote compared to her 55.3%.

Staff writer Sean Emery contributed to this report.

Orange County Register

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In a California congressional race, there’s a fight over whether a candidate can be called ‘retired’ on the ballot

‘Precious real estate’

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