Election 2026 · Federal

U.S. House, California District 36

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 11, 2026

Ted W. Lieu (incumbent) and Houston Brignano are the candidates for U.S. House, California District 36 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

U.S. Rep. Ted W. Lieu, a Democrat, faces Houston Brignano, a Republican, for the U.S. House seat in the 36th Congressional District. About 302,000 City of Los Angeles residents live in the district, mostly on the Westside, in neighborhood council areas that include Mar Vista, Venice, Del Rey, Westwood and Palms.

Summary by CityHallPass, not the official text or legal advice. The official text controls: LA County's official election information.

What it means for the City of LA

Congress writes the budgets for federal grant programs that pay for some City of Los Angeles services. One example is the Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The City's 2026-27 Proposed Budget says the City gets these funds based on its population, poverty and housing overcrowding, and uses them for housing, economic development and social services for low- and moderate-income residents. The same budget estimates $749,787,681 in grant receipts for City departments in 2026-27, from federal, state, local and other sources. About 302,000 City residents, mostly on the Westside, live in this district.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

Seven candidates. Ted W. Lieu (Democrat) and Houston Brignano (Republican) placed first and second and advanced to November 3. The whole district is in Los Angeles County. Total votes: 234,645. Certified results

The candidates

The job

Powers. The House “makes and passes federal laws.” Members introduce bills and resolutions, offer amendments and serve on committees, which also oversee federal agencies (House.gov). Under Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution, bills for raising revenue must start in the House (Constitution, National Archives transcript).

Pay. $174,000 a year. Members last got a raise in January 2009. Congress has blocked every scheduled raise since, most recently in a law signed November 12, 2025 (CRS).

The district. California’s new congressional map was drawn by the Legislature (AB 604) and approved by voters as Proposition 50 in November 2025. The Secretary of State says the map is used from 2026 through 2030 and the new districts take effect January 3, 2027 (SOS).

• Cities. Under the new map the district includes all of Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Lomita, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills Estates. It includes about 80,000 of Torrance’s 147,000 residents and about 5,900 Culver City residents (Statewide Database city splits report).
• City of Los Angeles share. 302,418 City residents live in the district (2020 Census), out of 3,912,115 citywide. The City is split among 11 House districts (Statewide Database city splits report).
• City council districts. Most of the district’s City neighborhoods are in Council District 11, with a large part of District 5 and a small part of District 15 near Harbor City. Method: census tracts assigned to the district in the state’s AB 604 map data, matched to City council and neighborhood council maps from the City’s GeoHub.
• Neighborhood councils in the district, by the same tract match against the GeoHub neighborhood council map, include Mar Vista, Westchester/Playa, Venice, Del Rey, Westside, Westwood, West Los Angeles-Sawtelle, North Westwood, Palms and Harbor City.

Federal money and the City.

• The February 2026 spending law that ended a partial shutdown included $94.3 million for 2028 Olympics transportation, according to Metro (LAist). Metro had asked for $3.2 billion (LAist).
• On August 26, 2026, Lieu joined Reps. Chu, Kamlager-Dove and Waters at a panel convened by Rep. Laura Friedman with Metro and City transportation officials, including LADOT General Manager Laura Rubio-Cornejo, on Olympic transit readiness. The release, posted by Lieu’s office, said the panel came “just weeks before Congress decides how much federal funding Los Angeles gets for the Games” (Lieu release).

Records

Ted W. Lieu

Offices. Torrance City Council from 2002, State Assembly 2005-2010, State Senate 2011-2014, U.S. House since January 2015. He is in his sixth term (House bio). Colleagues elected him Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. His office says this makes him “the highest ranking Asian American to have ever served in House Leadership” (House bio). In the 119th Congress he sits on the Judiciary Committee, including its subcommittee on courts, intellectual property, artificial intelligence and the internet, and on the Foreign Affairs Committee (House Clerk). He co-chairs Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy (committees page). In the 118th Congress he co-chaired the House’s bipartisan AI task force (House bio). In 2021 he was an impeachment manager in President Trump’s second Senate trial (House bio).

Bills. Congress.gov lists 274 bills and resolutions sponsored by Lieu since 2015, at least 46 of them in the current Congress (Congress.gov). One became law: the West Los Angeles VA Campus Improvement Act of 2021 (H.R. 711, Public Law 117-18). In this Congress:

• Tyler’s Law (H.R. 2004), with Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, passed the House. It requires a federal study of how often hospitals test overdose patients for fentanyl, and guidance on adding that test (Lieu release, Sept 15, 2026).
• AI Kill Switch Act (H.R. 9917, July 23, 2026), with Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX). It would require developers of the most powerful AI systems to keep the ability to throttle or shut them down, and would let the Homeland Security secretary order a shutdown of a system that “can cause catastrophic harm” (Lieu release).
• Other bills in committee include the Federal Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Act (H.R. 8819), American Leadership in AI Act (H.R. 8516), Housing for All Act (H.R. 2945), Prevent Homelessness Act (H.R. 2206), Climate Solutions Act (H.R. 6098), Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act (H.R. 669), Facial Recognition Act (H.R. 4695), Reproductive Data Privacy and Protection Act (H.R. 3218) and Arms Sale Oversight Act (H.R. 6405).

Key votes, 2025-2026. The same votes are shown for every House incumbent on CityHallPass.

On the crypto bills, most House Democrats voted no on CLARITY (78 yes, 134 no) and split on GENIUS (102 yes, 110 no). Lieu voted yes on both (Roll 199; Roll 200). The final version of H.R. 7148, which included the Olympics transportation money, passed 217-214 with Lieu voting no (Roll 53). The S. 1071 short title, “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026,” is from the enrolled bill (Congress.gov; GovInfo text).

Attendance. Of 676 House roll calls from January 3, 2025 to September 16, 2026, Lieu did not vote on 15 (2.2%), based on House Clerk roll call records.

Money he has brought to the district. In September 2026 his office announced $2 million for infrastructure at Miraleste Intermediate School in Rancho Palos Verdes (Lieu release, Sept 22). In July it announced $1,040,000 for a Manhattan Beach cybersecurity project (Lieu release, July 9).

Ethics and court records.

• FPPC. In February 2014 the FPPC issued a warning letter, with no fine, to Lieu and his 2014 State Senate committee. It found that a lobbyist hosted a March 2012 fundraiser for Lieu at the lobbyist’s home and paid for drinks and possibly flowers or cigars, a non-monetary contribution that state officials may not take from lobbyists registered to lobby their agency. The FPPC said the lobbyist did not tell Lieu, so “it appears that you were unaware,” and that the amount was “relatively small” (FPPC warning letter, No. 14/081).
• State Bar. Admitted June 1995; inactive since January 2024; no public discipline (State Bar).
• No public enforcement actions were found in House Ethics Committee statements and reports, Office of Congressional Conduct referrals, FEC enforcement records (MURs, administrative fines and ADR cases, searched by his name, his committee’s name and ID, C00556506, and his leadership PAC, Blue Momentum PAC, C00589309), or City Ethics Commission records. No judgment against him was found in CourtListener and GovInfo federal court records (searched Oct. 1, 2026).

Houston Brignano

Career. His ballot designation is Technology Executive (SOS certified list). His FEC filings list a Lomita address, and his committee’s reporting period starts November 14, 2025 (FEC filing). No campaign website, published biography, candidate statement or news profile was found.

Record. No public office, votes or programs to report. His FEC filing and ballot designation list no public office (FEC filing; SOS certified list).

Ethics and court records. No public enforcement actions found in FPPC, City Ethics Commission or FEC enforcement records (MURs, administrative fines and ADR cases, searched by his name, his committee’s name and its ID, C00925842), and no license in his name at the State Bar. No court case naming him as a party was found in CourtListener federal dockets and opinions or GovInfo federal court opinions (searched Oct. 1, 2026).

Where they stand

Issues are drawn from Lieu’s stated legislative focus (House bio) and from the votes above. No published positions were found for Brignano. No reputable voter survey specific to this district was found.

On the other ballot measures

No statement by either candidate on any November 3, 2026 state proposition was found on their House page, FEC filings or in the sources cited here.

Source: measure list from the Secretary of State’s qualified ballot measures page; positions checked on Lieu’s House site and his FEC committee filings, and Brignano’s FEC committee page.

City residents in the district also vote on City measures FD, TE, LA, PL, EE, PRK and PRT (City Clerk Voter Information Pamphlet). Voters who live in LAUSD also decide City Charter Amendment SC, shown in the table above. No position by either candidate was found on those.

Endorsements

Ted W. Lieu

No current endorsement list or 2026 campaign website was found. His FEC committee is Ted Lieu for Congress (FEC). No newspaper endorsement was found.

Houston Brignano

No endorsements were found, from newspapers or anyone else.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Source: FEC candidate summaries (Lieu; Brignano). Lieu’s figures are from the FEC’s bulk candidate summary dated September 29, 2026. Brignano’s are from his FEC candidate page as of October 11, 2026, which includes his October quarterly report, filed October 9 (October quarterly report). That report gives its coverage period as July 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026, which overlaps his earlier report (November 14, 2025 to June 30, 2026), and lists $6,482.56 as its election-cycle total for receipts, $5,570.17 for spending and $912.39 cash on hand. The FEC candidate summary adds the receipts and spending on the two reports. Committees: Ted Lieu for Congress (C00556506); Houston Brignano for Congress (C00925842). Lieu’s October quarterly report is due October 15, 2026 (FEC 2026 reporting dates). Federal law limits individuals to $3,500 per candidate per election (FEC contribution limits).

Who is giving

Method: FEC itemized individual contributions to each principal committee, 2025-2026 cycle, from the FEC bulk data. Committees must itemize donors who give more than $200 in a cycle (FEC). Gifts through ActBlue or another conduit are itemized too. A donor is a normalized name plus ZIP code, with refunds netted. Geography uses the City’s ZIP code list and Census ZIP-to-county files. “In the district” means the ZIP code’s center falls inside the new district (24 ZIP codes).

Source: CityHallPass analysis of FEC itemized receipts (Lieu; Brignano) and FEC candidate totals (links above). Lieu’s column runs through June 30, 2026. Brignano’s runs through September 30, 2026 and counts each gift once where his October quarterly report repeats a gift from his July report. His unitemized share uses the $1,870.42 in unitemized gifts and the $6,482.56 cycle total on the October report.

Ted W. Lieu

• Who. More than half of itemized dollars (54.6%) came from outside California, led by New York ($103,535), Florida ($48,162), New Jersey ($42,360) and Ohio ($36,800) (FEC receipts).
• Industries: retired or not employed 24.8%; finance and investment 12.1%; technology 12.0% (24 donors, $107,000); law 7.4%; real estate and development 4.3%; health care 3.7% (FEC receipts).
• Top employer. Six donors listing Anthropic, the AI company, gave $7,000 each ($42,000) (FEC receipts).
• Largest individual donors. 35 donors gave the $7,000 two-election maximum, $245,000 in all (FEC receipts, largest first).
• Shared employer and timing. Six donors listing theGROUP or theGROUP DC gave $9,000 on February 26 and 27, 2025. Two more gave $3,000 by March 4, for $12,000 from eight donors in all (FEC receipts).
• Conduits. 341 donors gave $443,100 earmarked through Democracy Engine, a conduit that several political groups use. The FEC data do not show which group organized those gifts (FEC: Democracy Engine payments to the Lieu committee). Most other conduit gifts came through ActBlue (FEC receipts).
• PACs and other committees. FEC committee data show $645,175 from 179 committees (FEC receipts from committees). By type: corporate PACs $284,500 (Google, Amazon, Bank of America, Northrop Grumman, PwC and Edison International at $10,000 each; Microsoft $8,500); labor unions $117,500 (AFSCME, AFT, LiUNA, the Machinists and the Air Line Pilots at $10,000 each); leadership and other PACs $81,500, including VoteVets and Ernst & Young’s PAC (no organization type in FEC data) at $10,000 each; trade associations $70,000; membership groups $69,396, including $18,396 from the AIPAC PAC. Tribes gave $31,650 (FEC receipts from committees).

Houston Brignano

• Ten itemized donors gave $5,290 through September 30, 2026: nine from Los Angeles County and one from Texas. The largest donor total is $1,261, in two gifts (FEC receipts). Three gifts came after June 30: $500 and $50 from one retired donor in Los Angeles and $70 from the Texas donor (October quarterly report).
• No PAC, party or candidate money is reported. The committee’s reported debts of $2,274.96 are owed to the candidate for software, website, subscription, printing, advertising and filing costs (October quarterly report).

Outside spending

Source: FEC independent expenditure reports (Schedule E), deduplicated (FEC independent expenditures for Lieu). All spending on file is from May 2026, before the primary. No general-election spending had been reported as of September 29.

Who funds Protect Progress. In 2026 it received $33 million in transfers from Fairshake (C00835959): $4 million on February 9, $7 million on April 10, $9 million on May 5, $3 million on May 28, $5 million on July 14 and $5 million on August 7. It also received $250,000 from Ripple Labs in January 2025 and $50,000 each from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in December 2025 (FEC committee page).

Who funds Fairshake. Its largest itemized contributors in the 2025-2026 cycle are crypto companies and investors: Ripple Labs ($25 million on August 29, 2025 and $23 million on January 21, 2025); Coinbase ($25 million in three 2025 gifts, plus $8.2 million from Coinbase Commerce); Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, employer listed as AH Capital Management ($11.9 million each, December 10, 2025); Digital Currency Group ($1 million); and Uniswap Labs ($999,987) (FEC committee page).

No outside spending for or against Brignano was reported (FEC).

Key moments

Debates and forums

No debates or candidate forums for this race were found.

Events

• Primary (June 2, 2026). Lieu won 60.9%. Brignano finished second, ahead of fellow Republican Melissa Toomim, 15.3% to 13.1% (SOS Statement of Vote).
• Crypto PAC mailers (May 2026). Protect Progress, funded by the crypto PAC Fairshake, reported paying for two pro-Lieu mailers (24-hour report; second report).
• Tyler’s Law passes the House (September 2026). Lieu’s fentanyl-testing bill, co-led with a Republican and Rep. Kamlager-Dove, passed the House (Lieu release). Brignano: no statement found.