WEHOonline received a copy of a formal complaint asking the California Secretary of State to reject “Community Organizer” from John Erickson’s proposed ballot designation for the State Senate District 24 race.
A formal complaint filed March 2nd asks officials to reject the second half of John Erickson’s proposed “Councilmember/Community Organizer” ballot designation for the State Senate District 24 race — specifically the “Community Organizer” title, which the complaint argues doesn’t reflect what he actually does for a living.
Erickson has served on the West Hollywood City Council since 2020 and was re-elected to a second term in 2024. He’s currently Chief of Staff at the Alliance for a Better Community (ABC), a Los Angeles-based Latino advocacy organization, a job he took in June 2025 after leaving his previous role as Vice President at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. He announced his SD-24 Senate candidacy the same month, seeking to replace termed-out State Sen. Ben Allen in a district that stretches from West Hollywood through Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, and down to the South Bay.
The filing deadline for the SD-24 race passed March 6th. That could be an issue. California Elections Code Section 13107 doesn’t let candidates swap their designation after the deadline — not unless the Secretary of State decides it doesn’t qualify. If that happens, Erickson gets three days to come up with something that holds up. If he can’t, “Community Organizer” comes off. He’d appear on the ballot only as “Councilmember.” WEHOonline reached out to the California Secretary of State’s office to confirm receipt of the complaint and ask whether a review is underway. We have not heard back.
The Job Description Problem
According to Erickson’s Ballot Designation Worksheet, a public record obtained by WEHOonline, Erickson wrote in his own hand that his job as Chief of Staff “involves community organizing and working to empower community members.” ABC’s website tells a different story. It says Erickson is “responsible for leading ongoing policy development and strategic lobbying efforts and overseeing day-to-day operations at ABC.” WEHOonline called ABC Thursday afternoon to ask whether that description was current and if the website was up to date. A staff member we spoke to said it was.
That’s the complaint in a nutshell. California Code of Regulations Section 20714 says a ballot designation has to reflect what a candidate principally does for work, not something incidental to the job, but the primary work itself. The complaint says lobbying and operations management is what Erickson principally does, community organizing isn’t, and putting “Community Organizer” on the ballot would send voters the wrong message about who he is professionally. California regulations require the Secretary of State to reject a designation likely to mislead a reasonably careful voter. That’s the rub. That’s the ask.
ABC’s website also identified Erickson as “the current Mayor of the City of West Hollywood” — a title he no longe holds and didn’t when he took the job in June of 2025. Chelsea Byers was mayor. A change to the website now wouldn’t resolve the complaint. The Secretary of State’s review is based on the record at the time of filing — what Erickson wrote on his worksheet and what his employer’s materials said when the complaint was submitted.
This Has Come Up Before
The gap between those two descriptions has come up before. WEHOonline reported last month on a conflict of interest allegation tied to a vendor enforcement vote Erickson participated in last October, and West Hollywood City Attorney Lauren Langer, in clearing him of a disqualifying conflict, described his ABC role as “primarily involving operations and logistics.” That didn’t match ABC’s website either. Notably, Langer made no mention of community organizing in her description of his role. That discrepancy was a footnote last month. Here, it’s the whole case.
WEHOonline first reported Erickson’s move from Planned Parenthood Los Angeles to ABC in June 2025, around the same time he announced his Senate candidacy. The primary is June 2, 2026. The top two vote-getters advance to the November general election.
What Happens Next
The Secretary of State can reject a designation that doesn’t hold up. If they flag “Community Organizer,” Erickson gets three days to swap in something that qualifies. If he can’t, the second title disappears. His ballot line reads “Councilmember” and nothing else.
The whole thing turns on one question: does ABC’s own description of Erickson’s job contradict what he put on his worksheet? That’s what’s sitting in Sacramento now.
WEHOonline will update this story when we hear back from the Secretary of State’s office.
The Complaint
The following is the full text of the complaint filed with the California Secretary of State on March 2, 2026, provided to WEHOonline:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to formally request that the Office of the Secretary of State reject the proposed ballot designation of “Councilmember/Community Organizer” submitted by State Senate District 24 candidate John M. Erickson on March 2, 2026.
While Mr. Erickson currently serves as an elected City Councilmember for the City of West Hollywood, the second PVO of his proposed ballot designation “Community Organizer” does not qualify as a valid principal profession, vocation, or occupation under California law and regulations governing ballot designations.
Mr. Erickson attempted to justify the “Community Organizer” PVO by stating on his Ballot Designation Worksheet that his “job as Chief of Staff involves community organizing and working to empower community members.” However, the Alliance for a Better Community’s website (https://afabc.org/team/john-erickson/) does not characterize Mr. Erickson’s role as a community organizing position. The website explicitly lists Mr. Erickson’s responsibilities as chief of staff: “leading ongoing policy development and strategic lobbying efforts and overseeing day-to-day operations at ABC.”
While Alliance for a Better Community may engage in advocacy and community engagement as part of its broader mission, the fact that an organization conducts organizing activities does not transform every employee into a “community organizer.” Ballot designations must accurately describe the candidate’s own principal profession, vocation, or occupation, not the general activities of the organization for which they work.
The Secretary of State’s regulations also require rejection of ballot designations that are misleading or that would create a substantial likelihood that a reasonably prudent voter would be misled regarding the candidate’s profession, vocation, or occupation. (Title 2, California Code of Regulations §20716.) Allowing the designation “Councilmember/Community Organizer” would risk misleading voters into believing that community organizing is one of Mr. Erickson’s principal professional roles, when the available evidence does not support that characterization.
For these reasons, I respectfully request that the Secretary of State review Mr. Erickson’s Ballot Designation Worksheet and reject the proposed designation “Councilmember/Community Organizer.” While “Councilmember” accurately reflects an elected office he currently holds, the second designation appears inconsistent with the requirements set forth in Elections Code §13107 and the Secretary of State’s implementing regulations.
Related Coverage
The Conflict That Wasn’t. And the Question That Still Is.
Erickson Leaves Planned Parenthood for New Role at Alliance for Better Communities
Councilmember Erickson Launches Bid for State Senate
Who Is John Erickson’s Competition for the State Senate?
UNITE HERE Local 11 Endorses John Erickson for State Senate
John Erickson lying about something? Say it isn’t so!!!! Next thing that you’re gonna tell me is that the world is round, not flat.
This is the same John Erickson who claimed to be non-binary to get into the DNC?
The same John Erickson who goes to Israel with AIPAC and then helps get a Code Pink pro-Hamas activist elected?
The same John Erickson who says “stand with victims” but stood with Ed Buck?
Ericson. Proud Latino 🤡
Here’s one of those people with the multiple middle names Latino. The middle names are Pinche Pendejo.
Breathtakingly unimportant. No one casts a vote based on that.
The validity of the complaint seems indisputable. I am curious to see how this resolves. My question, given Erickson’s long history of self-serving misbehavior, is why he thought ‘community organizer’ was beneficial to add.
I guess the optics beat the more accurate ‘lobbyist’. But he could have just left it at ‘council member’.
I can only speculate it was a low key bid for votes from the Unite Here segment. Any other thoughts?
The extent to which Erickson will manipulate systems, procedures, identity, and rules is breathtaking to anyone paying attention. He’s a fraud. His lack of authenticity is a sham.
💯%❗️
Kudos to whoever called this narcissistic bully out on his latest dishonest move!
yup! Bravo!
Ah, the pathological lying is finally coming home to roost.