LA Mayoral Race: Bass and Raman make final pitches as polls show dead heat

Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman spent Monday, Nov. 2, making their final appeals to Los Angeles voters before Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The contest, which began with a surprise primary challenge in February, has narrowed into a statistical tie as the campaign enters its last hours. Both candidates focused on housing affordability, public safety, and the city's service levels during their final day of campaigning.

Bass, who defeated real estate developer Rick Caruso in November 2022, visited Homegirl Cafe in Chinatown alongside Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra. She also held stops in Sylmar and Pacoima. During these appearances, the mayor emphasized her track record in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., where she has never lost an election. Her campaign focused on removing encampments from streets and increasing police presence.

"My closing message to voters is that this election is a real choice," Bass said. "I know that we can get rid of all the major encampments off our streets, I know that our city can be safer. We need to have more police officers and, most important, I know that our city can be affordable."

Raman, who announced her run against her longtime ally in February, campaigned at the UCLA campus and planned to attend a Dia de Los Muertos event in West Hollywood. She positioned her candidacy around the needs of young residents moving to the city. "The issues that I'm speaking to in this campaign are issues that matter for young people," Raman said. "Young people who are moving to the city who want to build their life here, who want to be able to afford to build their dreams here, and are unable to do it because we have a mayoral administration in a city hall that has ignored their needs for far too long."

A poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, shows the race is effectively tied. The survey found both candidates at 40% support among likely voters. Nineteen percent of likely voters remained undecided in this latest data. That figure is down from 33% in a poll published in late September. The poll's director, Mark DiCamillo, noted that the decline in undecided voters was particularly pronounced among conservative voters who had supported Spencer Pratt in the June primary.

In the September poll, 39% of likely voters favored Raman, while Bass held 28%. The shift in the final week reversed that gap. Among voters who supported Pratt in the primary, 41% now plan to vote for Bass. Raman holds 14% of that group. Forty-five percent of Pratt supporters remain undecided. In the previous poll, 22% of Pratt voters leaned toward Bass and 16% toward Raman.

Voters in Los Angeles County will also decide contests for the California governor's office. Democrat Xavier Becerra leads Republican Steve Hilton by 61% to 37% in a separate survey by the Public Policy Institute of California. The ballot includes 14 statewide propositions, including one regarding voter identification. The last day to register to vote was Oct. 19, but California allows same-day registration at vote centers. Voters can cast provisional ballots if they register less than 15 days before the election.

Vote centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday. Ballot drop boxes are available throughout the county and close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk recommends mailing ballots at least seven days before the election to allow for processing time. Ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days will be counted. Voters can track the status of their mail-in ballots through the Los Angeles County website.