Vote count

Each candidate's vote count by day, as Los Angeles County counted the mail-in and provisional ballots through certification. Election-night updates are shown as a single day. These are the certified final counts, official as of June 26, 2026.

Party signals

Betty Lieu

Open Seat Candidate

M. Brooks

Open Seat Candidate

Voter registration

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

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

Coalition

Endorsers

15 of 20 party-tagged

Donors

141 of 203 matched

Endorsers

1 of 2 party-tagged

Donors

70 of 151 matched

Finance

This chart tracks contributions over time. Campaign loans (see the gift-size cards below) are a separate outstanding balance, not part of this series.

Lieu

47% Torrance

City	Dollars	% of total
Torrance	$48k	47%
Los Angeles	$10k	10%
Redondo Beach	$6k	6%
Rancho Palos Verdes	$6k	6%
Manhattan Beach	$3k	3%

$48k from Torrance donors

$54k from outside Torrance

53% of maxed-out donors are non-Torrance

Brooks

29% Torrance

City	Dollars	% of total
Torrance	$12k	29%
Newport Beach	$4k	9%
Palos Verdes Estates	$3k	7%
Rancho Palos Verdes	$3k	6%
Rolling Hills	$2k	4%

$12k from Torrance donors

$31k from outside Torrance

83% of maxed-out donors are non-Torrance

When a donor is matched to a voter record, Torrance share goes by voter registration, not mailing address. So Hollywood Riviera donors (Redondo Beach 90277) registered in Torrance now count as Torrance. Unmatched donors fall back to mailing-address city, so a few may still slip through.

Lieu

$503

average gift

+ $10k self-loan

Brooks

$286

average gift

+ $6k self-loan

Where each candidate's money came from. Bigger segments mean more of the money came from donors at that gift size, smallest on the left.

Loans are money the campaign borrowed (here, every loan is the candidate lending their own committee), reported net of repayments as the outstanding balance on the latest filing. They are separate from donations and are not counted in the donations figure. Loan figures are as of the latest Form 460 filing; donation totals run through the most recent filing date shown above. See our finance data dictionary for how each figure is sourced.

Lieu

$2k

+$2k in campaign donations

Torrance Firefighters PAC $3k

labor-public-safety · FPPC 890376
Funded by (money to the PAC, not the candidate):
- Torrance Firefighters Association ($125k)
Torrance Police Officers' Association PAC $1k

labor-public-safety

Brooks

$10k

+$3k in campaign donations

Team Torrance PAC $10k

business-network-slate · FPPC 1490915
Funded by (money to the PAC, not the candidate):
- California Leadership Today ($38k)
- Atlas PAC ($32k)
- Lincoln Club of Orange County ($23k)
- California Homeowners Assoc ($21k)
- New Majority PAC ($18k)
Scott Baugh & Associates $1k

gop-lobbying-firm
Torrance Police Officers' Association PAC $1k

labor-public-safety

Maxed-out donor geography

Torrance caps individual donations at $1,000 per election. Lieu has 56 maxed-out donors; 33 of them (59%) listed addresses outside Torrance. Brooks has 11 maxed-out donors; 9 of them (82%) listed addresses outside Torrance. Ward has 4 maxed-out donors; 3 of them (75%) listed addresses outside Torrance.

Out-of-state donors

Lieu received contributions from donors in Nevada, Massachusetts, Florida, New York, and Oregon (3% of donor dollars). Brooks received contributions from donors in Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Arizona, Washington, Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota, and Washington DC (14% of donor dollars). Ward received contributions from donors in Florida and Washington (7% of donor dollars).

Real estate industry donors

Lieu received contributions from 5 real estate and property professionals (2% of donor dollars). Brooks received contributions from 12 real estate and property professionals (12% of donor dollars). Ward received contributions from 1 real estate and property professional (4% of donor dollars).

Where they stand

Betty Lieu

Open Seat Candidate

M. Brooks

Open Seat Candidate

Housing

Issues about how much housing the city builds: density, ADU rules, by-right approvals, 6th-cycle Housing Element implementation.

Wants stronger limits on hillside ADUs

At the April 6, 2026 Riviera HOA / Seaside Neighborhood Association forum, said she supports rewriting the local hillside-protection rules to remove the ADU exception. ⁷

At the April 6, 2026 Riviera HOA / Seaside Neighborhood Association forum, acknowledged challenges from state ADU laws overriding the local hillside-protection rules and indicated support for working to strengthen the rules, without committing to specific language. ¹⁰

Other Local Issues

Hyperlocal items that don't share an axis with the topics above.

Wants vendors at the Sleepy Hollow holiday lights

At the April 6, 2026 Riviera HOA / Seaside Neighborhood Association forum, said she would allow cottage-food vendors at the Sleepy Hollow holiday lights display. ⁷

At the April 6, 2026 Riviera HOA / Seaside Neighborhood Association forum, said the city should keep consistent rules for the Sleepy Hollow holiday lights display. ¹⁰

Betty Lieu

Open Seat Candidate

M. Brooks

Open Seat Candidate

Elected service

She has served on the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education since November 2018 and is currently its president, having previously served as a Torrance Environmental Quality and Energy Conservation Commissioner. ²

She served at the US Peace Corps as deputy chief of staff and director of Congressional Relations from 2002 to 2009, and returned in 2018 as chief of staff overseeing the agency's $410 million budget, 1,100 staff, and 6,000 volunteers worldwide. ⁸

Torrance roots

Lieu and her husband Ted have raised two sons in Torrance, both educated through Torrance Unified schools. ¹

Brooks grew up in Torrance's Hollywood Riviera, where her family has been part of the neighborhood for more than 60 years; she returned in 2021 to care for her elderly mother and is raising a daughter adopted from India. ⁸

Career

Lieu is a former Deputy Attorney General and felony prosecutor at the California Department of Justice and previously worked as a civil-defense litigator at a downtown Los Angeles law firm. ²

Brooks worked in aerospace early in her career before shifting to public policy, serving eight years as the local-government representative for a statewide trade association and later as director of communities for the Manufactured Housing Institute and vice president of government relations for the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks; she currently owns a small business in Torrance. ⁸

Education

— none on file

Civic affiliation

Lieu sits on the California Advisory Commission on Special Education and the board of the Volunteer Center of South Bay, and has held leadership roles in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association, and the Torrance Education Foundation. ²

— none on file

Sources & footnotes

↓ Download Lieu donor data (CSV)↓ Download Brooks donor data (CSV) View raw filings on NetFile →

Sources cited on this page

Betty Lieu for Torrance City Council 2026 — campaign website, accessed May 2026

Footnotes

¹ All data from $100+ contributions filed with the City of Torrance through June 2, 2026 via Torrance NetFile. Contributions under $100 are not required to be itemized and are not included.

The race for council district 5

Vote count

Party signals

Finance

How much they've raised, week by week.

Where do their donors live?

Big checks, or many hands?

Who's spending in support of them? 1

Money findings

Maxed-out donor geography

Out-of-state donors

Real estate industry donors

Where they stand

Endorsed by

About

Sources & footnotes

Sources cited on this page

Footnotes

Don't miss the next update.

Who's spending in support of them? ¹