Karen Bass Has Six Weeks to Answer the Question Los Angeles Is Asking

THE BOTTOM LINE -

Karen Bass does not need another warning. She needs an argument.

With Election Day approaching, a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/L.A. Times poll shows Nithya Raman at 39% among likely voters and Bass at 28%, with an extraordinary 33% still undecided. One poll does not decide an election. Other surveys have shown a closer contest, and the Bass campaign disputes the Berkeley poll's picture of the race.

But the most troubling number for Bass may not be the 11-point gap. It is 63% the share of likely voters in the Berkeley poll who viewed the incumbent mayor unfavorably. Just 28% viewed her favorably.

For an incumbent seeking another four years, that raises a much larger question: What is Karen Bass asking Los Angeles to believe about a second term that voters have not already seen in the first?

That is the case she now has to make.

Bass came into office promising urgency on homelessness. For a time, the numbers appeared to move in the right direction. But the 2026 homeless count interrupted that narrative, and homelessness remains among the issues voters identify as most important in the mayoral contest.

The political problem is larger than statistics. Angelenos do not experience homelessness through spreadsheets or City Hall news conferences. They experience it on sidewalks, around parks, near businesses and throughout their neighborhoods.

A mayor can announce programs, approve spending, and celebrate placements. Those actions matter. But eventually government is judged by a much simpler standard: Did conditions get better?

Bass has to answer that question. She also has to answer for the Palisades fire.

The Berkeley poll found that 56% of likely voters rated her response to the disaster as poor or very poor, while only 14% rated it good or excellent. Bass has acknowledged that being in Ghana when the fire erupted amid severe wind warnings was the biggest mistake of her mayoralty.

Acknowledging a mistake matters. Explaining what changed because of it matters more.

Los Angeles voters deserve to know what lessons City Hall learned, what reforms followed and why residents should have greater confidence in their city government when the next emergency arrives.

None of this means Bass has no record to defend. She recently pointed to more than 10,000 rent-restricted housing units built since she took office, arguing that increasing housing supply is central to confronting Los Angeles' affordability crisis.

That record belongs in the debate. Bass should defend it and explain it. But she cannot make the coming weeks primarily about Nithya Raman.

Raman's record deserves scrutiny too. Her positions on homelessness, policing, housing, and city spending should be examined carefully, as should her political alliances and the organizations supporting her campaign. That is what elections are supposed to do.

But there is an unavoidable difference between a challenger and an incumbent: The challenger can promise change. The incumbent has to explain the results.

That is where Bass faces her most difficult test.

Why has homelessness remained so persistent? What did City Hall learn from the Palisades disaster? What will change in a second Bass administration? What will residents actually notice four years from now that they do not see today? And what is the larger vision?

Those questions cannot be answered with another ribbon-cutting, another announcement or another attack on an opponent. Nor is "the alternative is worse" enough.

Los Angeles is too complicated, too expensive, and too important to be governed by a politics of lowered expectations.

There is still considerable uncertainty in this election. The Berkeley poll found that 33% of likely voters remain undecided, and 63% of voters who supported Spencer Pratt in the June primary had not chosen between Bass and Raman.

Those voters represent something more important than an electoral opportunity. They represent a demand for persuasion.

Karen Bass has been mayor since December 2022. She has a record. She has accomplishments and failures. She has decisions she can defend and mistakes she has acknowledged. Now she has to put all of it before Los Angeles and make the case for what comes next.

Not merely why voters should reject Nithya Raman. Not merely why Bass deserves another chance. But why another four years would produce different results.

That is the question Los Angeles is asking. And Karen Bass is running out of time to answer it.

(Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.)