# Diamond Bar City Council, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Ruben Torres or Steve Tye for Diamond Bar City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Diamond Bar's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. - Jurisdiction: City of Diamond Bar - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/diamond-bar-council-1 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 82 out of 100 (Strong), across 4 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ruben Torres** - **Steve Tye** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Mayor Steve Tye, on the council since 2005 and now serving his fifth term as mayor, faces Ruben Torres, a U.S. Bank employee making his first run for elected office, for the District 1 seat. This person holds one of five district seats on Diamond Bar's City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions. The term is four years. Council members choose one of their own to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like any other member. Tye is campaigning on continuity: two decades on the council, a record fifth term as mayor, and a resume built on prior service on the Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission. Torres is campaigning on six stated priorities — economic development, public safety, infrastructure, open space, homelessness, and civic engagement — framing himself as a first-time candidate who does his homework rather than a career politician. ## Steve Tye Steve Tye is the incumbent, first elected to the council in November 2005 and reelected in 2009, 2013, 2018, and 2022. He's serving his fifth term as mayor (also 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2020). Before joining the council he served four appointed terms on the Planning Commission (1997-2005, twice as chairman) and on the Parks and Recreation Commission (1994-1997). He's a self-employed insurance broker and a graduate of Cal State Dominguez Hills. **Strengths:** Two decades of council service plus eight years of prior commission experience give him more institutional knowledge of the city than any other candidate on this ballot. **Trade-offs:** His own campaign finance filings show him personally funding almost all of this campaign rather than building a broad donor base — see Financial info. **Keep in mind:** He holds five regional committee delegate seats (Foothill Transit, county sanitation, LA County City Selection Committee among them), a workload a sixth term would extend. ## Ruben Torres Ruben Torres works for U.S. Bank and is running on six priorities: economic development, public safety, infrastructure repair without a tax increase, protecting open space and hillsides, a regional approach to homelessness, and monthly office hours for constituents. He describes himself as "not a politician" but "a neighbor who shows up," pledging to read budgets and consult experts before taking positions. **Strengths:** A specific six-point platform and a pledge of regular, recurring office hours give voters a concrete standard to hold him to if elected. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected or appointed public service — his record is professional (banking) rather than civic administration. **Keep in mind:** His donor base draws on family members, local small-business owners, and a personal loan to his own campaign — see Financial info. ## Review notes - Ruben Torres for Diamond Bar City Council, District 1 may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [City of Diamond Bar — Election Information (City Clerk's qualified-candidate list for City Council Districts 1, 3, and 4, with Form 501 and nomination-paper filing dates)](https://www.diamondbarca.gov/152/Election-Information) 2. [City of Diamond Bar — NetFile Public Portal (campaign committees and itemized campaign-finance transactions for all 2026 candidates, searchable inline without a document download)](https://netfile.com/public/CDB/campaign/search-entities) 3. [City of Diamond Bar — Mayor Steve Tye (official council-member bio: District 1, terms served, prior commission service, occupation)](https://www.diamondbarca.gov/717/Mayor-Steve-Tye) 4. [Ruben Torres for Diamond Bar City Council, District 1 — campaign site](https://torresfordiamondbar.com) ## The rest of the ballot Diamond Bar City Council, District 1 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Diamond Bar City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/diamond-bar-council-1 (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.