Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Nitya Raman took aim at each other on homelessness, police recruitment and other major issues in a heated exchange that lasted 90 minutes on Tuesday.
The event, hosted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, began modestly, with the two candidates chatting with each other and Raman saying he had “incredible respect” for the mayor.
But the gloves soon came off.
Raman said she ran for office frustrated by the city’s lack of progress on a number of issues – homelessness, housing production and the city’s continuing financial crisis, among others.
“I feel a sense of urgency and vision for change and addressing issues that I don’t think is reflected in our leadership right now,” she said.
Bass hit out at Raman, pointing out that the council member had been at City Hall two years longer than the mayor. He also said Raman served in the council’s leadership until recently and spent three years in charge of the powerful committee charged with homelessness and housing issues.
“For you to act like you’re brand new, or you’ve been out for about six years, is not right,” Bass said.
Raman said he was just one of the 15 members of the council and lacked the power that Bais had.
“The mayor is in charge of the departments. The mayor is the leader of the city,” he said.
Bais and Raman were generally seen as allies until February, when Raman jumped into the race at the last minute. Bass campaigned for Raman in 2024, when the council member was facing a tough race again. Raman, in turn, was a Bass supporter two years ago, when she encountered real estate developer Rick Caruso.
Ramon and Bais will face off again on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in a televised debate at the Skirball Cultural Center hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo 52. That program will include another leading candidate: reality television personality Spencer Pratt, who has described both Bass and Raman as part of the status quo.
Tuesday’s forum was watched by hundreds of people, both in person and on streaming. Raman repeatedly used the program to argue that the mayor’s Inside Safe program, which has moved thousands of people into hotels and motels, is too expensive.
Bass said she is working to move toward a less expensive approach. But he also said Raman was relying on Inside Safe in his district, which stretches from Silver Lake to Reseda.
The first Inside Safe operation, conducted a few weeks after Bass took office, was conducted in the Ryman’s district of Hollywood. Last summer, the program cleared out a “terrible” encampment next to the 405 Freeway, Bass said.
“You’ve pushed us around Inside Safe and insisted that Inside Safe come to your district,” Bass said.
Raman said it was his responsibility to lobby for more camps to be operated.
“That’s exactly what we should be doing,” he said. “As a council member, your role is to set the wheels in motion.”
Raman said that if elected mayor, she would halve the number of homeless on the streets by the 2028 Olympic Games and remove every encampment from the city by the end of her four-year term.
Bass and Raman also debated the merits of a city law that prohibits homeless living near “sensitive” locations such as schools, day-care centers and libraries, and freeway overpasses.
Raman has voted against dozens of no-camping zones sought by his colleagues in other parts of the city.
Bais told Raman, “I don’t understand your position around the camps.” “You repeatedly vote to take away equipment from people who are specifically trying to remove encroachments near schools. This is completely unacceptable.”
Raman said she still opposes the law, arguing that it simply forces the camps down. But she said that as mayor, she would not oppose council members’ efforts to use that law in their districts.
“I’m not going to stand in the way,” she said.
Bass and Raman also disagreed over a four-year police package that was negotiated by the mayor and approved by the council in 2023. Raman voted against the police contract and has campaigned against it since launching his mayoral bid.
Raman told the audience there is a direct connection between the police increase and last year’s $1 billion budget shortfall, which resulted in the layoffs of more than a thousand city employees. Raman said that even the salary increase did not stop the reduction in police staff.
“This increase did not achieve the public safety outcomes we wanted,” he said.
Since 2020, the year Ramon took office, the LAPD has lost more than 1,300 officers. Bass said the pay increase was needed to prevent officers from leaving for other jobs, causing the department to shrink even more.
“We have to be able to compete,” she said.
The crowd was mostly pro-Bass, cheering Mayer and occasionally criticizing Ryman. Both candidates often interrupted each other, talking over each other’s comments.
Bass has led nearly every opinion poll in the race, with Pratt and Raman in second and third. Nevertheless, support for Bass has been low and many voters view him unfavorably.
The top two vote-getters in the June 2 primary election will advance to the November 3 election, unless a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, in which case they will win the election outright.
Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association. Did not invite Pratt or two other candidates, tech entrepreneur Adam Miller and community organizer Rae Huang. Miller and Huang have fallen behind Bass, Pratt and Raman in opinion polls.
The group said its goal was to bring the two leaders who represent Sherman Oaks — Bass as mayor and Raman on the council — to a stronger conversation. Organizers said this could not have been achieved if every candidate was present.
Both candidates also drew criticism regarding Raman’s late entry into the race and the fact that the two were once political allies. Raman, who had endorsed Bass’ mayoral bid just weeks before she announced her candidacy, acknowledged that they have worked together on some initiatives.
“We have worked together,” Raman said. “I am just disappointed now.”
