L.A. Mayoral Candidates Square Off in August 19th Debate
L.A. Mayoral Candidates Square Off in August 19th Debate
Contributed by Vibrant L.A.
Welcome to election season. Elections are starting to heat up. On August 19th in Sherman Oaks, Angelenos got their first real look at the race for the next Mayor of Los Angeles, which will be decided this coming November. Hosted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, most experts felt that the mayoral debate had a negligible impact on voters. The audience that watches an entire debate, especially at the local level, is minimal, and despite the pre-debate hype, Los Angeles Mayoral debates tend to be "one-day stories" in terms of news coverage. However, this debate did reveal how the candidates plan to wage political war through Election Day.
During his 1980 campaign for President, Ronald Reagan famously asked voters, "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" That's what challenger Nithya Raman has been asking in 2026: "You've been the mayor for four years, and the results have not changed— the results are visible on our streets."
On homelessness, which increased during 2025, and on infrastructure and basic city services, Raman slammed Mayor Bass’ performance: "This contract gave raises to [LAPD] that our city couldn't afford, and we suffered as a result. We cut street lighting; we cut pothole repair." Then, on overall leadership, Raman continued: “Right now at City Hall, no one is in charge."
Unsurprisingly, Bass defended her record and asserted that she has taken on longstanding challenges to deliver reductions in homelessness over the course of her entire term as well as historic reductions in crime. Of more interest to political observers was her clear focus on Councilmember Raman’s missing thousands of votes during her time on the Council. Bass asserted: "You have missed several thousand votes because you don't show up to work.”
On that same subject, the Mayor criticized Councilmember Raman as talking from "both sides of her mouth" and having no support from her colleagues: "You've been at City Hall twice as long as I have. I realize you want to pitch yourself as somebody from the outside..." Bass said. "She has no support from the [other] councilmembers because nobody can work with her."
She also homed in on Councilmember Raman's record of opposing police hiring. With poll after poll finding that an overwhelming majority of voters feel Los Angeles is headed in the wrong direction or is otherwise on the “wrong track,” it is in Bass' favor to make this race not a referendum on her record, but a choice between two people -- with the challenger being an unfit alternative. This election street fight will continue to unfold.
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