A South Los Angeles campaign forum offered an early glimpse of the increasingly bitter race for Los Angeles mayor, as challenger Nithya Raman accused Mayor Karen Bass of damaging the city’s finances and Bass countered that Raman was not telling voters the truth.
Bass and Raman, a City Council member representing the 4th District, traded attacks Saturday during the KBLA Talk 1580 Town Hall and Ballot Forum at the SEED School in South Los Angeles. Hosted by Tavis Smiley, the event came with Election Day roughly a month away.
Raman argued that essential city services have declined under Bass, citing persistent problems with trash collection, graffiti and potholes.
“Our quality of life is worse today than it was just a few years ago. But we did not get to this moment by accident. In 2023, Mayor Bass led a contract to give LAPD raises that everyone in City Hall knew our city simply could not afford,” Raman said.
She said the police union is now supporting Bass’ reelection campaign after receiving what its leadership called “the largest raises in LAPD history.”
Raman linked the contract to Los Angeles’ budget crisis, pointing to a deficit of roughly $1 billion and the cuts to city services that followed.
She also accused Bass of retreating from a more aggressive approach to expanding housing.
“On a debate stage with the Sherman Oaks homeowners association, Mayor Bass promised the audience that she would protect their communities by keeping housing out,” Raman said.
Asked why she had turned against a mayor she once supported, Raman said she had observed a pattern of politically motivated choices at City Hall.
She accused Bass of making “politically convenient decisions” rather than pursuing “decisions that mattered for Angelenos.”
Bass defended her record on homelessness and housing before turning her criticism directly toward Raman.
Bass said that after taking office, she discovered the homelessness system was “profoundly” dysfunctional. She argued that Los Angeles needs more authority over a system currently divided between the city and Los Angeles County.
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“Right now the city of Los Angeles gets people housed, but then we want to move them out of interim housing into permanent housing,” Bass said. “But we don’t control who moves into permanent housing, the county does.”
Bass then challenged Raman’s record on affordable housing, saying her council district has performed poorly compared with others.
“If you look, by council district, who has built the most affordable housing and the least, she’s number 14 out of 15,” Bass said, arguing that the contrast highlighted a key difference between the two candidates.
Bass also rejected Raman’s claim that police raises drove the city’s budget problems, dismissing the accusation as a “lie.”
“I really think when you go to vote, you gotta vote for somebody that tells the truth,” Bass said.
The mayor further accused Raman of claiming credit for a 49% decline in homelessness in her district, which Bass said was largely the result of her Inside Safe program.
Smiley noted that homelessness remains a central concern despite Bass making it a centerpiece of her 2022 campaign. Bass responded that homelessness had fallen for two consecutive years and attributed some of the ongoing strain to reduced state funding.
However, this year’s Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found that the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city increased by about 3.4%. The unsheltered population rose roughly 7.9%, reversing two consecutive years of declines.
The county has already begun mailing ballots ahead of the general election on Nov. 3, launching the final month of a packed election featuring contests not only for mayor but California governor and Congress, along with numerous local and statewide measures.
