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City of Stanton · Statewide General Election

Stanton City Council, District 1

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 holds your district's seat on Stanton's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Stanton also directly, citywide elects a Mayor to a separate 4-year term (not on this district's ballot); not all seats are elected the same year. A 4-year term.

Incumbent Donald Torres is running for a second term on Stanton City Council District 1 against one challenger, Thomas M. Frazier, the Planning Commission's sitting Vice-Chair. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

This person holds District 1's seat on Stanton's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Stanton also directly, citywide elects a Mayor to a separate 4-year term (not on this district's ballot) -- David Shawver's 2026 mayoral race was cancelled after he drew no opponent. Not all council seats are elected the same year; only Districts 1 and 3 are up in 2026. A 4-year term.

Beyond Torres's substantive city-published biography and Frazier's confirmed Planning Commission role, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source could be found for Frazier's specific platform despite a real search effort. Documented below as a gap, not filled in with speculation.

Donald Torres

Torres is a lifelong Stanton resident who came up through the city's public schools; he describes coming from an immigrant household where his parents were union organizers, which he says shaped his commitment to advocating for vulnerable populations. He works as a youth mentor at Western High School's Independent Learning Center, helping students with mental health challenges, and served on the Stanton Public Safety Committee before his 2022 election to Council; he's also a member of the Stanton Community Foundation. His stated priorities are public safety, economic opportunity, environmental justice, and affordable housing.

Strengths

A youth-mentorship background plus prior Public Safety Committee service gives him direct exposure to two of his own stated priorities before taking office.

Trade-offs

The city's bio lists no specific 2026 agenda items beyond his general priority areas; as the incumbent, any unresolved first-term issues are partly a record he's already made.

Keep in mind

No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for his campaign in this pass -- see Financial info.

Thomas M. Frazier

Filed his candidacy under the ballot designation "Planning Commissioner City of Stanton." The city's own Planning Commission roster confirms Frazier currently serves as the commission's Vice-Chair, an appointment that runs through November 2028. No campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source describing his occupation, platform, or reasons for running could be found in this pass despite a real search effort.

Strengths

Sitting Planning Commission Vice-Chair -- direct, hands-on experience with the city's land-use and development decisions that come before Council.

Trade-offs

No campaign statement or platform was found, so voters have no confirmed sense of his priorities beyond his commission role and filed designation.

Keep in mind

No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for his campaign in this pass -- see Financial info.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 5 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Stanton section (pages 156-159 of 188, downloaded directly and parsed locally with pypdf since a plain fetch returns undecodable PDF stream data): confirms Member City Council District 1 (2 qualified candidates) and District 3 (3) as the city's two November 2026 council races, each Vote for 1, with incumbent flags and every candidate's filed ballot designation; no other City of Stanton contest appears anywhere in the 188-page document
  • stantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Stanton -- Election Information and Voter Services page: confirms Council Member, District 1 and District 3 as the two council seats up in November 2026, each a 4-year term; states the Mayor's seat is directly, citywide elected and was on the filing calendar but that the mayoral election was subsequently CANCELLED per a city resolution dated 8/18/2026 because incumbent David J. Shawver was the only qualified candidate; lists the five qualified council candidates by district
  • stantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Stanton -- City Council page: confirms the 5-member council/manager structure -- Mayor David J. Shawver (at-large), Mayor Pro Tem Gary Taylor (District 3), and council members Donald Torres (District 1), Victor Barrios (District 2), and John D. Warren (District 4) -- and that Districts 1 and 3 seats expire in 2026
  • stantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Stanton -- Councilmember Donald Torres, District 1 biography page: lifelong Stanton resident, youth mentor at Western High School's Independent Learning Center, prior Public Safety Committee and Stanton Community Foundation service, elected 2022; stated priorities are public safety, economic opportunity, environmental justice, and affordable housing
  • stantonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Stanton -- Planning Commission roster page: confirms Thomas Frazier as sitting Vice-Chair and DeWayne A. Normand as a sitting Commissioner, corroborating both candidates' filed ballot designations in the District 1 and District 3 council races

Last updated August 31, 2026.