# Stanton City Council, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Thomas M. Frazier or Donald Torres for Stanton City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Stanton's five-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. An appointed city manager runs daily operations. Stanton also directly elects a Mayor citywide. The Mayor serves a separate four-year term and is not on this district's ballot. Not all council seats are elected the same year. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Stanton - 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/stanton-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: 89 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 - **Thomas M. Frazier** — Planning Commissioner City of Stanton - **Donald Torres** — Councilmember · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. They vote on 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. The term is four years. 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; they describe coming from an immigrant household where their parents were union organizers, which they say shaped their commitment to advocating for vulnerable populations. They work 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 their 2022 election to Council; they're also a member of the Stanton Community Foundation. Their stated priorities are public safety, economic opportunity, environmental justice, and affordable housing. **Strengths:** A youth-mentorship background plus prior Public Safety Committee service gives them direct exposure to two of their own stated priorities before taking office. **Trade-offs:** The city's bio lists no specific 2026 agenda items beyond their general priority areas; as the incumbent, any unresolved first-term issues are partly a record they have already made. **Keep in mind:** No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for their campaign in this pass -- see Financial info. ## Thomas M. Frazier Filed their 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 their 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 their priorities beyond their commission role and filed designation. **Keep in mind:** No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for their campaign in this pass -- see Financial info. ## Sources 1. [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](https://ocvote.gov/fileadmin/user_upload/data/candlog/GEN2026/candlog.pdf) 2. [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](https://www.stantonca.gov/departments/administration/city_clerk/election_information_and_voter_services.php) 3. [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](https://www.stantonca.gov/government/city_council.php) 4. [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](https://www.stantonca.gov/government/bio-dtorres.php) 5. [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](https://www.stantonca.gov/government/committees___commissions_/planning_commission.php) ## The rest of the ballot Stanton 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, "Stanton City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/stanton-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.