Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman clashed Wednesday night at the Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center in their first general-election debate, trading blame over homelessness, policing and spending as both sought to persuade voters ahead of the Nov. 3 mayoral runoff, a performance California Post Opinion Editor Joel Pollak said exposed a lack of fresh solutions.
“Neither candidate seemed to have any new ideas for solving LA’s problems. Neither candidate seemed up to the challenges of the office,” Pollak said in a post-debate assessment.
In his California Post column, Pollak described 90 minutes of attacks and interruptions. In a companion video, he graded Raman as failing and Bass at roughly a D-minus. L.A. Taco separately concluded neither candidate won.
On policing, Bass cited Raman’s 2020 social media call to defund the police and attacked her for now favoring stable LAPD staffing.
“She’s irresponsible in what she talks about,” Bass said.
Raman said the 2023 police contract supported by Bass helped force cuts to street lighting, pothole repair and graffiti removal. She also accused City Hall of politically motivated spending during an exchange over the $2.6 billion convention center expansion.
“We absolutely have a spending problem at the city, and one of the big reasons that I ran was because I think so much of the spending in our city is politically motivated,” Raman said.
The pair also blamed one another for homelessness as the official 2026 count showed the city’s total rose 3.4% to 45,194 and its unsheltered population climbed 7.9%. Bass pointed to Inside Safe and said Raman shared responsibility because she recently led the council’s citywide homelessness committee. Raman highlighted a 49% decline in unsheltered homelessness in her district.
Pollak said the debate lacked the urgency of Spencer Pratt, whose 25.53% third-place finish left him outside the runoff.
“And this debate really missed the presence of Spencer Pratt, who at least brought fresh ideas and new energy to the campaign,” Pollak said.
