# West Covina City Council, District 5

Tony Wu is running uncontested for West Covina City Council, District 5. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on West Covina's 5-member 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, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like any other member.

- Jurisdiction: City of West Covina
- 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/west-covina-council-5
- 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 4, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 83 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Tony Wu** — Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Only one candidate qualified for this seat. Incumbent Councilman Tony Wu, first elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022, appears unopposed for a third term — so this contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome.

This person holds one of five district seats on West Covina'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, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like any other member.

With no opponent, the useful question is what the officeholder has done, not who to choose. Wu has held the District 5 seat since 2018 and survived a 2024 recall effort — voters who want the fuller record should weigh both his stated priorities and that unresolved controversy.

## Tony Wu

The incumbent District 5 councilman, in office since 2018 and unopposed for a third term. In his own words at his most recent inauguration, his priorities are economic development, public safety, community engagement, and quality-of-life investments in infrastructure and parks. The city's official biography page for him carries no career, age, or occupation detail beyond that statement.

**Strengths:** Two prior wins (2018, 2022) and eight years of continuity on the seat, running unopposed a third time.

**Trade-offs:** Running unopposed means his record faces no organized counter-argument this cycle, and the city's own bio page for him offers no career background beyond a general statement of priorities.

**Keep in mind:** A 2024 recall against Wu never reached the ballot — organizers fell short of signatures — but the allegations were substantive: a $4.1 million settlement, an LA Sheriff inquiry into his conduct toward staff, and Brown Act complaints, none decided by a vote.

## Sources

1. [Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk — General Election Final List of Qualified Candidates to Appear on the Ballot (Election 4348, generated September 2, 2026 at 1:15 PM)](https://content.lavote.gov/docs/rrcc/documents/final-list-of-qualified-candidates-to-appear-on-the-ballot9fcf3b64-1a33-4882-9e17-8cbc3b3c8d76.pdf)
2. [City of West Covina — Elected Officials (dated "Term: November 20XX to November 20XX" line for every officeholder; shows Districts 2, 4, 5, City Clerk, and City Treasurer each expiring November 2026, and Districts 1 and 3 expiring November 2028)](https://www.westcovina.gov/177/Elected-Officials)
3. [City of West Covina — Mayor & City Council (council-manager government structure, current roster by district, confirms the city moved to by-district elections in November 2018)](https://www.westcovina.gov/172/Mayor-City-Council)
4. [City of West Covina — Campaign Disclosure Reports & Public Official Appointments (the City Clerk's own per-councilmember index of filed campaign-finance statements; indexes City Council candidate committees only, not City Clerk/Treasurer. Lopez-Viado's and Wu's committees each show continuous activity back to 2018/2015, but the newest report posted for either as of this retrieval is a 2024 semi-annual statement — no 2026-dated filing for either, and none at all under Carlos Yado's name)](https://www.westcovina.gov/186/Campaign-Disclosure-Reports-Public-Offic)
5. [City of West Covina — Staff Directory: Councilman Tony Wu (official page; an inauguration-style statement of priorities, not a biography — no career, age, or occupation detail)](https://www.westcovina.gov/m/directory/employee?eid=38)
6. [The Ballot Book — City of West Covina District 5 2026 candidates (unofficial, automated-monitoring aggregator; lists a single candidate, Tony Wu, running unopposed)](https://theballotbook.com/jurisdictions/1482/candidates)
7. [Ballotpedia — Tony Wu recall, West Covina, California (2024) (structured recall-effort record citing San Gabriel Valley Tribune reporting from Feb. 9 and Jul. 11, 2024; the recall did not go to a vote — organizers fell short of signatures by the Jul. 10, 2024 deadline)](https://ballotpedia.org/Tony_Wu_recall,_West_Covina,_California_(2024))

## The rest of the ballot

West Covina City Council, District 5 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, "West Covina City Council, District 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/west-covina-council-5 (sources last retrieved September 4, 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.
