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Final pitch to LA voters before Election Day
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman are in a close race less than 24 hours before Election Day.
LOS ANGELES - With less than 24 hours before Election Day, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman are locked in a dead heat, spending the final hours of the campaign making last-minute appeals to undecided voters while trading critiques of their opponent.
What we know:
Raman, who previously had endorsed Bass before entering the race, has repositioned herself as a candidate intent on disrupting what she describes as a failing status quo. Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a rally at UCLA, Raman argued that City Hall has continually let down its residents.
"This city has broken its promises to the people of Los Angeles over and over again by every metric," Raman told supporters. "If you look at city services, we are doing worse now than we were four years ago under the leadership of this Mayor. I want to bring change to this broken status quo."
Throughout the campaign, Raman has focused her message on more transparency, affordability and systemic changes to municipal governance.
Meanwhile, Bass has questioned her opponent’s experience and track record.
On Monday, Mayor Bass, seeking a second term, countered by leaning heavily on her political experience and challenging Raman’s record. Bass directly questioned Raman’s achievements on homelessness and housing production within her City Council district.
"Saying she reduced homelessness in her district by 50 percent when that is not true, building the least amount of affordable housing out of the 15 people on the council," Bass said Monday.
The debate over district achievements comes alongside policy clashes between the two candidates on several key issues, including the tenure of LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell and transparency concerns regarding LADWP utility bills.
Campaign staffer video controversy
The dynamic between the candidates grew more contentious following a controversy surrounding a social media post made by a part-time Raman campaign staffer.
In a personal video discussing the Michigan Senate race, the staffer made some controversial remarks. Mayor Bass seized on the clip Monday, forcefully condemning the comments and questioning Raman’s leadership capability.
"It’s despicable that she would actually have somebody on her campaign or anywhere near her that would make a comment that was so insensitive at best, racist at worst," Bass said, noting previous instances of online controversies tied to Raman’s campaign.
"These mistakes over and over again show to me that she is not ready for prime time," Bass added.
Raman’s campaign shared a statement online Sunday evening that reads, "We’re aware of a video posted by a part-time staffer on his personal social media account commenting about the Michigan Senate race. The comments in it are reprehensible and do not reflect our campaign. We apologize. This staffer is no longer with the campaign."
Raman pushed back on Monday, emphasizing that swift action was taken as soon as the video surfaced.
"This was a part-time staffer who produced a video on his own time, and he was immediately dismissed from the campaign. End of story," Raman said.
The Source: This report is based on statements from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, as well as a statement shared by Raman’s campaign.