# United States Representative, District 36 Compare records and positions simply between Ted W. Lieu or Houston Brignano for United States Representative, District 36 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - 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/us-rep-36 - 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: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 95 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ted W. Lieu** — United States Representative, 36th District · Democratic - **Houston Brignano** — Technology Executive · Republican Representative Ted W. Lieu took 60.9% of the June 2 vote and Republican Houston Brignano took 15.3% to claim the second slot. The district covers the Los Angeles Westside and South Bay. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. Seniority governs committee standing, so a longer-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. The incumbent has one of the highest bill counts in the delegation at 44 sponsored this Congress, with 2 career laws — a normal House ratio. His opponent raised about $5,000. The practical question is what this district gets from a safe seat. ## Ted W. Lieu Ted W. Lieu immigrated to the United States at age three and grew up working in his family's gift shops in Cleveland, Ohio; he holds degrees in computer science and political science from Stanford and a law degree from Georgetown, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review (lieu.house.gov). He served four years of active duty in the Air Force JAG Corps, then in the Air Force Reserve, retiring in 2021 as a colonel and receiving the Air Force Humanitarian Service Medal. Before his 2014 election to Congress he served on the Torrance City Council, in the California State Assembly, where he wrote the state's Global Warming Solutions Act, and in the state Senate, where he authored subprime-mortgage regulations and a ban on conversion therapy for minors. He now sits on the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees and serves as Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus (lieu.house.gov). His campaign site could not be reached, so his own words on why he is seeking another term were not available. His legislative record offers two recent, concrete actions: on July 23, 2026, he and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, which would require developers of the most powerful AI systems to "maintain the technical capability to throttle, suspend, or shut them down" (lieu.house.gov); and on September 4, 2026, he joined Reps. Suhas Subramanyam and Joe Neguse to introduce the No Pardon Paydays Act, which would require congressional review of pardoned individuals' criminal history and bar them from making large political contributions to the president who pardoned them. "Time and time again, Trump uses pardons as favors for his pals and donors. This blatant corruption is dangerous to our democracy and our communities," Lieu said (lieu.house.gov). He promises to continue pushing for guardrails on powerful AI systems and for government accountability measures like the No Pardon Paydays Act (lieu.house.gov). He says he will keep securing federal funding for local school infrastructure and cybersecurity, and continues to serve on committees overseeing civil rights, the courts and foreign policy. **Strengths:** A documented decade of federal seniority, seats on Judiciary and Foreign Affairs, and two concrete bills introduced this year. **Trade-offs:** His campaign site could not be reached, so his stated case for another term is drawn mostly from his legislative record. **Keep in mind:** What is documented here is legislative activity rather than a personal campaign pitch; that gap is what is public, not his candidacy. ## Houston Brignano Houston Brignano is the Republican candidate for this seat, listed on the ballot as technology Executive. They have not served in elected office. No campaign website, interview or news coverage of their reasons for running could be located, and no vote, lawsuit or other public incident is on record. With no published platform to draw on, their promises cannot be listed here in their own words. That is a gap in what is public, not a comment on their candidacy. **Strengths:** Brignano is giving this seat a contested general election rather than an uncontested one. **Trade-offs:** No record in office and no published platform leave little for a voter to judge beyond party and occupation. **Keep in mind:** No campaign website or news coverage of their candidacy could be located; that gap is what is public, not a comment on them. ## Record in office Ted W. Lieu (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2015 and has sponsored 46 bills in the 119th Congress; 2 of their career bills have become law. Houston Brignano has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Lieu — Committees: Foreign Affairs; Judiciary Lieu — HR 711 (2021): West Los Angeles VA Campus Improvement Act of 2021 Lieu — HR 3116 (2015): Quarterly Financial Report Reauthorization Act Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Ted W. Lieu** — $1,832,769 raised (Individuals: $963,244; PACs & committees: $570,479) - **Houston Brignano** — $5,139 raised (Individuals: $5,139) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Rep. Ted Lieu — Full Biography (used for career history, committee roles)](https://lieu.house.gov/about/full-biography) 4. [Rep. Ted Lieu — Press Releases listing, including AI Kill Switch Act (used for documented facts)](https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases) 5. [Reps. Lieu, Subramanyam, and Neguse Introduce the No Pardon Paydays Act (used for documented fact and quotes)](https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-lieu-subramanyam-and-neguse-introduce-no-pardon-paydays-act) 6. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 7. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 8. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 36 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, "United States Representative, District 36 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-36 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. 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