# La Verne City Council, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Steven F. Johnson or Thomas Allison for La Verne City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on La Verne's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. - Jurisdiction: City of La Verne - 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/la-verne-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: 83 out of 100 (Strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Steven F. Johnson** — Council Member · Incumbent - **Thomas Allison** — Attorney/Law Professor A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Steven F. Johnson, who first served on the council from 2003 to 2011 and now holds the District 1 seat again, faces Thomas Allison, an attorney and University of La Verne law professor completing five years on the city's Planning Commission. This person holds one of five district seats on La Verne'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. Johnson is campaigning on a general philosophy — the Rotary Club's "Four-Way Test" — built on two non-consecutive stints on the council rather than a specific 2026 platform. Allison is campaigning on fiscal discipline, neighborhood safety and preserving Old Town, drawing on direct land-use experience from the Planning Commission but no record casting votes as an elected official. ## Steven F. Johnson Steven F. Johnson is the incumbent, a self-employed insurance broker since 1983 and 42-year member of the La Verne Rotary Club, twice its president. They served on the City Council from 2003 to 2011 and currently hold the District 1 seat. They're campaigning on the Rotary "Four-Way Test" — is it the truth, is it fair to all concerned, will it build goodwill, will it be beneficial to all concerned — as their stated guiding principle rather than a specific policy platform. **Strengths:** A previous 2003-2011 council term plus Johnson's current term give them more combined council experience than anyone else in this race. **Trade-offs:** Their own filed candidate statement lists no specific 2026 platform items — only a general philosophy, the Rotary Four-Way Test. **Keep in mind:** They requested the ballot designation "Council Member," the elected title they already hold, rather than describing their day job as an insurance broker. ## Thomas Allison Thomas Allison is an attorney and University of La Verne law professor holding four degrees from the university, a more than 20-year city resident who has served five years on the Planning Commission. They're running on fiscal responsibility, traffic and neighborhood safety, community recreation programs, and preserving Old Town and local businesses amid new development. **Strengths:** Five years of direct land-use experience on the Planning Commission, plus professional legal and public-policy training relevant to council work. **Trade-offs:** No experience casting votes as an elected official — Allison's record is commission service and university teaching, not legislating. **Keep in mind:** They pledge to "listen first, work collaboratively, study the facts, vote independently, [and] explain every vote" — a specific accountability standard voters can hold them to. ## Review notes - Thomas Allison for La Verne 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 La Verne — November 2026 General Municipal Election (qualified candidates for City Council Districts 1, 3, and 4)](https://www.laverneca.gov/603/November-2026-General-Municipal-Election) 2. [City of La Verne — 2026 Election Records (City Clerk public document portal: each candidate's filed Affidavit of Nominee, Ballot Designation Worksheet, Candidate's Statement, and FPPC campaign-finance forms)](https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/Browse.aspx?id=160339&repo=r-1fb4295f) 3. [City of La Verne — City Council (official directory: mayor, mayor pro tem, and councilmembers by district, with occupation)](https://www.laverneca.gov/351/City-Council) 4. [La Verne Daily — 2026 Local Elections for La Verne, California (candidate roster by district, sourced to the city clerk)](https://www.lavernedaily.org/elections26/) 5. [Thomas Allison for La Verne City Council District 1 — campaign site](https://thomasforlaverne.com) ## The rest of the ballot La Verne 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, "La Verne City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/la-verne-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.