• Sacramento Judge Denies Dr. Butch Ware Ballot Access to the California Governor’s Race

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 – Sacramento Superior Court Judge James Arguelles, at a hearing on Thursday March 26, threw out the Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rudolph “Butch” Ware’s lawsuit challenging the California Secretary of State’s decision to exclude Dr. Ware from the June 2nd primary ballot.

Dr. Ware is the ONLY Green gubernatorial candidate in a crowded field. His campaign has achieved recognition by his participation in previous candidate forums, being invited to an upcoming televised debate, and by appearing in a New York Times article about the race. 

His platform resonates with California voters’ strong support for quality single payer healthcare, housing as a human right, lifelong public education, abolishing ICE, divesting CA from the war machine, and strong environmental policies that will address the climate crisis.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office claimed that Dr. Ware failed to correctly format files for the required five years of tax returns in time to qualify for the ballot. Dr. Ware brought suit, arguing that Weber’s office set arbitrary hurdles and provided contradictory and confusing instructions and that the “minor clerical redaction issue” had been fixed and submitted to the Secretary of State.

David Cobb, former Green Party presidential nominee, sums up what is really happening in his recent Substack statement:

"This isn’t a glitch. It’s a strategy. The Democratic Party intentionally and deliberately attempts to keep insurgent candidates off the ballot to keep the corporate duopoly in charge. From draconian ballot access laws to exclusion from debates to legal technicalities, there is a clear pattern."

Let’s call it what it is: anti-democratic suppression of people’s movements."

Dr. Ware has vowed to fight through the judicial system, with an appeal to regain his due access to the June primary ballot and, failing that, plans to mount a write-in campaign to deny the duopoly its monopoly on the State of California’s Governor’s Office.

In this interview with Brianna Joy Gray, Dr. Ware discusses how he plans to fight for his right to be on the ballot.

For over forty years, the national Green Party and Green candidates have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to gain and maintain ballot access in elections across the country.  

We’ve also fought for inclusion in political forums and debates and entry into a political landscape dominated by the Republican and Democratic parties.  

California’s top two "jungle primary” is a particularly difficult challenge for third party candidates seeking to get on the state-wide ballot in November because it only allows the top two vote getters from a large pool of all parties’ candidates to move past the June 2nd primary.

In November of 2024, three California minor parties including the Green Party filed a federal lawsuit against the Top-Two system on the basis that it is unconstitutional because it denies third party candidates a fair shot at office.

The Democratic Party candidates in this race have all failed to inspire significant support among their own base, and two Republicans had recently been leading in the polls.

The Green Party of California calls on all Greens and allies to continue our support for Butch Ware’s campaign and help fight for Ballot Access and for the rights of all Californians to vote for a candidate who best represents them.