Karen Bass, Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman came to tonight’s mayoral debate with the goal of having what may be their only time together on stage.
As outgoing mayor, Bass faced attacks from his challengers while trying to sell voters on his fitness for another term, despite a disastrous 2025.
As a reality TV star with no political experience, Pratt needed to show that he could present content on social media rather than just AI fanboy videos and name-calling – say “Karen Basura”.
Raman’s task was perhaps the most difficult. As a city council member whose two previous campaigns were supported by the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, he needed to convince Pratt-curious voters that he was more conservative than Bass. Yet for others, she needed to appear moderate enough to wrest support from the mayor and come across as a progressive lioness to energize Democrats in a year where GOP candidates like Pratt will have to answer for the disaster that is President Trump’s second term.
Only one of the three failed.
Many times Raman’s tongue got stuck in answering simple questions. The moderator kept telling her that she was moving ahead with her time. Answering a yes/no question about whether non-citizens should be allowed to vote in city elections, the council member continued speaking until the moderator cut him off.
While Raman offered some policy plans, he also played a card straight from Trump’s arsenal. She claimed that Pratt and Bass were working together against her – an unexpected scenario that drew a lot of laughs from the audience. She became increasingly frustrated, to the extent that when Bass was given time for a rebuttal, she dejectedly declared, “I was not offered it in this debate.”
Raman, who had supported Bais’s re-election before throwing in his hat at the last minute, looked inexperienced, sensitive and unprepared.
The line of the night was that Pratt dismissed Raman as a “random council member” – which is how the L.A. political world reacted to his entry into the race. She was so upset by Pratt’s comment that she continued complaining about it to a KNBC reporter even after the debate.
What is shocking about Raman’s flop is that she must have known how important it is to perform well in front of the television audience, considering that her husband is a screenwriter. His tone was flat when he needed to be emotional.
No one needed to remind Pratt of this. He was answering tough questions on a big stage for the first time, facing an audience that knew him only as the Angry L.A. White Guy he had enjoyed playing.
He was mostly successful.
At his best, Pratt came across as a boisterous brother with enough charm that he could call himself “polite” without seeming obnoxious. He dominated the flow of conversation without any orders, even interrupting Raman at times to let Bas speak. He even said “sorry” once when he took too long and the moderator cut him off.
He glossed over specifics, except to say he was going to do better than others and that he would prioritize public safety above all else. Instead, he was a man on stage who used anecdotes to sell himself, citing conversations about abused animals, city workers being afraid to eat out, and filmmakers hiring local gang members to keep their shoots safe.
Pratt, a TV personality turned influencer, knows that telling a story is more effective than immersing an audience in statistics, as Bass and Raman did.
But the bad prat flared up several times. He received a rebuke from KNBC anchor and debate co-moderator Colleen Williams when she called Mayer an “incredible liar.” The use of loud voices to mock Bais and Raman came across as juvenile and possibly sexist. And when it came to the federal immigration raids that terrorized Southern California last summer, Pratt was alarmed when Bass pointed out that 70% of those arrested did not have a criminal record—a use of statistics that was a hit.
Bass was also what she should have been – measured, forceful and eager to defend her record, without coming across as defensive. She wasn’t exactly inspiring, but she didn’t have to be. Much of the Democratic establishment, as well as the city’s powerful labor unions, have endorsed him.
Raman and Pratt are right to consider Bass the old guard of a defeated city – but the old guard didn’t get there without knowing how to win.
