![\"Mayoral](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SAC_274_20241001_LS_Cofer.JPG\" "\\"Mayoral")
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Mayoral candidate Flo Cofer put up a yard sign at Land Park resident\u2019s Ashley Osterlund home while out door knocking for voter support Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. Cofer in 2026 is running for the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors<\/p>\n
Lezlie Sterling<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n
Sacramento County must remove \u201cdoctor\u201d from the local ballot under the name of Board of Supervisors candidate Flojaune Cofer, a judge ruled Friday.<\/p>\n
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jennifer K. Rockwell granted a petition from a resident Friday that asserted that using \u201cdoctor\u201d would lead voters to incorrectly believe Cofer is a practicing medical physician.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think (the planned designation) is misleading,\u201d Rockwell said during her ruling Friday. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was intentionally so \u2026 If I just introduce someone as a doctor and don\u2019t say anything else, they think it\u2019s a medical doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cofer, who is running for the county\u2019s 1st Supervisorial District, holds a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Michigan and is self-employed.<\/p>\n
During Cofer\u2019s 2024 campaign for Sacramento mayor, her ballot designation read \u201cpublic health professional,\u201d said Ken Casparis, a county spokesperson.<\/p>\n
For the 2026 election, however, after leaving her job at nonprofit Public Health Advocates, Cofer submitted a different designation, which county officials approved to appear on the June 2 primary: \u201cdoctor, public health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard Dwyer, a registered voter residing in the district, filed the suit Monday in Sacramento Superior Court. The suit alleges that allowing Cofer to use \u201cdoctor\u201d on the ballot violates state election code because it refers to her degree, not her occupation.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe changed the designation because the credential is more impressive than the truth,\u201d said Brian Hildreth, Dwyer\u2019s attorney, during a court hearing Friday. \u201cThe word \u2018doctor\u2019 in its plain and common meaning, connotes a licensed medical practioner. She is not one. She has never been one, and she knows voters will read it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
June Powells-Mays, a county attorney, said the county did ask Cofer for additional documentation to justify her designation, which she provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is undisputed Dr. Cofer earned her doctoral degree,\u201d said Powells-Mays during the hearing, ahead of the ruling. \u201cIt is undisputed that Dr. Cofer earned her doctoral degree; it was not in an honorary matter. If she had an honorary doctorate, I would understand concerns about the word \u2018doctor\u2019 being misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of her ruling, working with Cofer, Rockwell determined Cofer\u2019s new designation will be \u201cepidemiologist, public health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rockwell said state law requires candidates to use no more than three words for their ballot designations, meaning Cofer couldn\u2019t use her preferred designation \u2014 \u201cdoctor of Public Health.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anyone wants to suggest to the Legislature to give people a few more words on their ballot designation, that would be great, but we have what we have,\u201d Rockwell said.<\/p>\n
The primary will be held June 2, while the general election will be held in November. Sacramento City Councilman Eric Guerra and former state lawmaker Deb Ortiz are also running for the seat, currently held by Phil Serna.<\/p>\n
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