Mayor · June 2, 2026

George Chen

Incumbent

Polls have closed
← Back to the Mayor race
George Chen

About

George Chen, the incumbent Mayor of Torrance, has served in that office since 2022. He spent 33 years in the aerospace industry and has been a Torrance resident since 1992. 1

Finance snapshot

$174k
Donations
355
Donors
$491
Avg gift
43%
From Torrance
$46k
PAC spending

Through June 2, 20262 · Full breakdown →

Background

Career
Chen retired in 2017 as a senior program manager after a 33-year career at Hughes Aircraft and Raytheon. 1
Elected service
He was elected to the Torrance City Council at-large in 2018, then to the District 2 council seat in the city's first district-based election in 2020, and to mayor in 2022. 2
Civic affiliation
He is a member of the Torrance Kiwanis. 3
Torrance roots
A Torrance resident since 1992, Chen is married with two adult children. 1
Where they stand

On the issues.

Backs Torrance's overseas-partner program

Says he led the effort to build Sister and Friendship Cities partnerships abroad for cultural exchange and to bring tourism and investment to Torrance. 1

Wants to annex El Camino Village

Has publicly backed advancing the annexation of the El Camino Village neighborhood at the January 14, 2025 council meeting and at 2026 candidate forums. 10

Voted against the homeless-housing site

Voted YES on the May 23, 2025 council resolution opposing the LA County and Weingart project to convert the Extended Stay America hotel on Torrance Blvd. into homeless housing. 5

Voted for the airport practice-landing ban

Voted NO on the January 23, 2024 ordinance restricting touch-and-go landings, back-taxis, and low approaches at Zamperini Field. 7

Voted to allow arrests for refusing shelter

Voted YES on the September 9, 2025 concurrence directing staff to draft an ordinance allowing arrest of people who refuse offered shelter. 6

Voted for a Pride Month proclamation

Voted NO on the May 7, 2024 council resolution to issue a Pride Month proclamation; the proclamation passed 4-3. 9

Backed Measure SST in 2022

Did not back Measure SST, the ½-cent city sales tax Torrance voters approved on June 7, 2022. Told the Daily Breeze in August 2022 that 'raising sales taxes is the easy knob, because we basically put the onus on everyone else,' adding 'just cranking a sales tax, you'll never end, you're going to keep cranking that because that's the easy way.' 13

Endorsements

55 total · view source
Torrance officials (13)
  • Aurelio Mattucci — Torrance City Councilman
  • Jon Kaji — Torrance Council Member District 1
  • James Han — Torrance Unified School District Board
  • Ed Candioty — Torrance Cultural Arts Commissioner
  • Ron Mataalii — Torrance Parks and Recreation Commissioner
  • Dennis Piotrowski — Torrance Library Commissioner (endorsing as citizen/resident)
  • Dylan Wakayama — Small Business Owner, Torrance Airport Commissioner
  • Mike Gibson — Torrance Traffic Commission Member
  • Mike Mauno — Former Torrance City Council Member
  • Richard Tsao — Former Torrance Planning Commissioner
  • Mark Tsuneishi — Former Torrance Traffic Commissioner, Torrance Business Owner
  • Mark Choi — Former Torrance Planning Commissioner, Torrance Resident
  • Mike Gunnar — Former Torrance City Commissioner, Retired Financial Consultant
State & county officials (1)
  • Alex Villanueva — Former Los Angeles County Sheriff
Public safety (0)
Labor (0)
Business (1)
  • Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles
Political clubs (1)
  • California Republican Assembly
Advocacy (0)
City officials (25)
  • Jawane Hilton — Carson City Councilman
  • Drew Boyles — El Segundo City Councilman
  • Arlene Rojas — Carson City Councilwoman
  • Rodney Tanaka — Gardena Councilman
  • David McGowan — Palos Verdes Estates Councilman
  • William (Bill) Uphoff — Council Member for the City of Lomita
  • Joe Franklin — Manhattan Beach City Mayor Pro Tem
  • Cedric Hicks — Carson City Councilman
  • Pat Wilson — Rolling Hills City Councilman
  • Bea Dieringer — City of Rolling Hills Mayor Pro Tem
  • Frank Zerunyan — Rolling Hills Estates Councilman
  • Brit Huff — Councilwoman of Rolling Hills Estates
  • Bernadette Suarez — City of Lawndale Council Member
  • Olivia Valentine — City of Hawthorne Councilmember
  • John Cruikshank — Former Mayor for the City of Rancho Palos Verdes
  • The Honorable Heidi Shyu — Former Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering for DoD, Former Asst Secretary of the Army
  • Betty Lin-Peterson — Former Palos Verdes Estates Mayor
  • Dave Albert — Former Mayor of Lomita
  • Russ Lesser — Former Mayor of Manhattan Beach, Local South Bay Business Owner
  • Chuong Vo — Former Mayor of Cerritos, Retired Torrance Police Officer
  • Steve Napolitano — Former Mayor of Manhattan Beach
  • Kenny Kao — Former Mayor of Palos Verdes Estates
  • Carol Kwan — Former West Basin Municipal Water District 3 Director
  • Mike Gin — Former Mayor of Redondo Beach
  • David Hadley — Former California State Assemblyman, 66th Assembly District
Individuals (14)
  • Matt Aleman — Torrance Resident & Director of Business Development
  • Paloma Elise
  • Noah Ellis — Small e-Commerce Business
  • TerriAnn Ferren — Author, Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, Former columnist for the Torrance Tribune, Torrance Cultural Arts
  • Gabriela and Cristian Fischer — Local Resident & Small Business Owner
  • David Henry Hwang — Tony Award-winning American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor
  • Allen James — Former U.S. Olympic Racewalker (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996)
  • Tony and Jessica
  • Ted Jones — Rotary International
  • Jeremy Okawa — Small Business Owner
  • Ricky Pennington — Small Business Owner
  • Guy and Lili Puckett — President of ArchiveIT, Executive Director of Street Racing Kill
  • Ian Walter — Small Business Operating Partner
  • Don Wortman — Grand Master of Kukkido Martial Arts
Party signals

What the public record shows about this candidate's party.

Five sourced signals, side by side. We don't compute a verdict.

Voter registration

Registered Republican with the Los Angeles County Registrar (queried January 2026). LA County Registrar →

What they’ve said

Hasn’t said publicly which party they identify with.

How press describes them

Local press hasn’t described their party.

Past partisan runs

Hasn’t run as a partisan candidate before.

Coalition
Endorsers

35 of 55 party-tagged

Donors

245 of 355 matched

64% Rep · 20% NPP · 12% Dem · 4% Other

Compare with Sharon Kalani →
Verify

Don't take our word for it.

Sources cited on this page

  1. Vote 4 George Chen — about, accessed May 2026
  2. Vote 4 George Chen — qualifications, accessed May 2026
  3. Vote 4 George Chen — about (council bio), accessed May 2026
  4. Friends of Madrona Marsh, Mayoral candidate Q&A, May 1, 2026
  5. City of Torrance press release on Project HomeKey+, May 23, 2025
  6. Davis Vanguard, "Torrance Plans Military-Style Camps and Arrest Policy to Tackle Homelessness," September 15, 2025
  7. General Aviation News, "Touch and goes banned at KTOA," February 5, 2024
  8. League of Women Voters Torrance Area, mayoral and treasurer candidate forum, April 23, 2026
  9. Torrance City Council, Granicus video clip 14215, May 7, 2024 (Pride Month proclamation)
  10. Torrance City Council, Granicus video, January 14, 2025 (El Camino Village ad-hoc committee)
  11. Vote 4 George Chen — Values & Priorities, accessed May 2026
  12. Torrance City Council, Granicus video clip 14530, September 23, 2025 (Ord. 3955 Target Density)
  13. Daily Breeze, "A month into his term, Torrance's new mayor discusses life, city priorities" (Clara Harter), August 8, 2022
View raw filings on NetFile →