Skip to main content

City of Carson · Statewide General Election

Carson City Treasurer

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person oversees the city's cash and investments and reports on Carson's financial position. A 4-year term.

Only one candidate qualified for this seat. Incumbent City Treasurer Monica Cooper appears unopposed for a second term on the November 3, 2026 ballot — so this contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome.

The city treasurer oversees Carson's cash and investments and reports on the city's financial position -- a technical, non-policymaking role. A 4-year term.

With no opponent, the useful question is what she has done with the office, not who to choose. Cooper has held the seat since November 2022 and brings a finance and public-administration background, including state government and small-business ownership, into a second term.

Monica Cooper

Monica Cooper is the incumbent City Treasurer, elected in November 2022 and now seeking a second term unopposed. She holds a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Executive Education, with an emphasis in management and accounting, and a bachelor's degree in Public Administration from CSU Dominguez Hills; she is an Advanced Certified Public Funds Investment Manager and a California Certified Municipal Treasurer. Before taking office she worked as a State of California Revenue Agency Administrator and owns a real-estate and mortgage company based in Carson. She serves on the State Bar of California's Commission for the Client Security Fund and has been active in several Carson civic organizations, including the Carson/Gardena YMCA board and the Carson Sister Cities Association.

Strengths

Public-funds credentials (Advanced Certified Public Funds Investment Manager, California Certified Municipal Treasurer) plus a Harvard Kennedy School degree in management and accounting.

Trade-offs

Running unopposed means her stewardship of the city's investments faces no organized counter-argument this cycle.

Keep in mind

City treasurer is a technical post -- safeguarding and investing public funds, not policy -- so continuity in the seat is most of what an unopposed return means for this office.

Source review: Very strong (93/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • carsonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carson — REVISED Notice of General Municipal Election, November 3, 2026 (City Clerk, City Treasurer, Council Districts 2 and 4, each a term expiring November 2030; dated Aug. 26, 2026)
  • carsonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carson — "Candidates who have pulled returned or qualified for the ballot" (City Clerk's own running tracker, linked from the City Clerk's page as "November Election"; last updated 2026-08-11 — one day after the standard Aug. 7 filing deadline and inside the same Aug. 10-12 extension window that produced Arleen Bocatija Rojas's District 4 qualification. Lists exactly one qualified filer each for City Clerk (Dr. Khaleah Bradshaw, qualified July 20, 2026) and City Treasurer (Monica Cooper, qualified July 20, 2026); also shows a District 2 filer, Sue Quedado, who pulled papers but never reached 'Date Qualified,' confirming the document distinguishes qualified filers from mere paper-pullers)
  • southtechhosting.com (opens in a new tab)City of Carson — CampaignDocs eRetrieval (SouthTech/Granicus public campaign-finance disclosure portal)
  • carsonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carson — City Treasurer Monica Cooper (official biography: M.P.A., Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education, emphasis in Management and Accounting; B.A. Public Administration, CSU Dominguez Hills; Advanced Certified Public Funds Investment Manager and California Certified Municipal Treasurer; prior State of California Revenue Agency Administrator; owner of a Carson real-estate and mortgage company; term Nov. 2022-Nov. 2026)

Last updated August 31, 2026.