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Karen Bass And Nithya Raman Clash In Final Los Angeles Mayoral Debate Over Homelessness, Public Safety
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Final LA mayoral debate focused on homelessness and public safety. Bass argued Raman mismanaged homelessness; Raman rebutted Bass's leadership.
Final Debate Turns Personal
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman clashed in a final televised mayoral debate before the Nov. 3 election, with Bass attacking Raman’s readiness and Raman pressing Bass’s record on homelessness and public safety.
“I am so profoundly sorry that I was not in my city, when my city needed me.”
Raman accused Bass of being “MIA” during the Palisades Fire, and Bass apologized for being out of the country, saying, “I am so profoundly sorry that I was not in my city, when my city needed me.”
Raman also challenged Bass’s leadership on homelessness, saying, “Homelessness is rising despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent,” while Bass defended her Inside Safe program and argued it helped drive major declines in homelessness in Raman’s district.
Bass and Raman traded barbs over public safety and leadership, with Bass warning that Raman’s approach would destabilize the city, and Raman insisting that “If there is another emergency, you will not have to ask if I am mayor where our mayor is. I will be on the front lines.”
LAPD Chief Deadline Clash
Raman faced repeated questions about whether she would replace Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell before the 2028 Olympics, and she declined to commit to a clear timeline during the debate. Raman said, “It is not a unilateral decision by the mayor,” and she added, “It takes agreement with the police commission, even agreement with the council.”
Bass pushed back by arguing that replacing McDonnell before the Games would send the LAPD into disarray, warning, “We are 640 days away from the largest sporting event to ever take place.” Bass also attacked Raman’s judgment and portrayed the challenger as flip-flopping, saying, “The problem is that you have a tendency to take different positions on different days of the week.”
Inside Safe, Surveillance, Polls
The candidates also clashed over homelessness policy and public safety, with Raman criticizing Inside Safe as too expensive and Bass defending it as a key driver of declines in homelessness.
Raman said Bass’s Inside Safe program was “incredibly expensive” and “unaccountable to the public,” while Bass argued that homelessness went down in multiple council districts because of Inside Safe and that she removed three encampments in Raman’s district.
The debate further turned to police surveillance technology, as moderators asked about automatic license plate reader contracts and whether mass surveillance belongs in local law enforcement.
Raman said she wanted proof that the technology “effectively reduces crime” and that data would not be shared with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while Bass argued, “There are other companies that provide that service, and I think that LAPD needs to have a contract with those companies.”