Bass Unleashes Election Day Video Attack on Raman in LA Mayoral Runoff

Election day in Los Angeles turned into a brawl over polling station politics. Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass unleashed a blooper reel targeting Nithya Raman, highlighting the councilmember's worst moments on the trail. It was a calculated strike meant to sink Raman's insurgent bid for the city's top job.

The two Democrats are locked in a runoff after outmaneuvering Spencer Pratt in the city's jungle primary. Bass sought to land one final blow before the polls closed, mocking her opponent's consistent slip-ups. She argued that Raman simply isn't ready to steer a metropolis of such scale and complexity.

"Throughout this campaign, Nithya has shown that she is not ready to lead a city as big and complex as Los Angeles," Bass wrote.

Karen Bass dropped a grenade on election day, releasing a video montage designed to torpedo Nithya Raman’s insurgent campaign for Los Angeles mayor. The clip stitched together debate moments and interviews where Raman struggled to articulate coherent answers. One specific question stumped her completely: "Name a police chief you admire." Instead of providing a name, Raman later claimed she was in a "fugue state" during that exchange and simply could not recall the details. The footage also captured Raman appearing to label both Bass and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell as "fascist liars." Raman has since pushed back on that characterization, insisting she was actually referring to Donald Trump and ICE agents when using those terms.

The video didn't stop at memory lapses. It hammered a past gaffe where Raman backed a policy associated with former Police Chief Daryl Gates. The contradiction is glaring, given Raman previously described Gates as "abhorrent and racist." Gates left office in disgrace following his slow response to the 1992 Rodney King riots, a period that ultimately forced his resignation. Raman tried to smooth over the incident, calling her reference to Gates a "mistake" and admitting she "fumbled" her point. That stumble frustrated progressives and conservatives alike.

Bass closed the video with a direct appeal to voters. "I’m ready to keep building on our progress and delivering for every Angeleno," she said. The stakes are high. Polls indicate Raman has erased a double-digit deficit, putting the race in a dead heat. A recent survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the LA Times shows both candidates tied at 40 percent support. Another September poll from the LA Times gave Raman an unexpected 11-point lead. Analysts expect a tight finish when voters head to the polls on November 3.

Raman’s arrival in this race was abrupt. She filed her candidacy just hours before the deadline in February. Weeks prior, she had even endorsed Bass for re-election. Bass called the challenge a "surprise" at the time. But Raman surged forward, defeating former reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the June jungle primary to force a runoff. Pratt, for his part, has accused Bass of failing Los Angeles on critical issues like homelessness, wildfires, and public safety.

Facing the threat of losing her office, Bass warned supporters that Raman would plunge the city into anarchy. She argued that Raman’s agenda would drive LAPD officers out of the department and invite federal interference in hosting the 2028 Olympics. "I think four years under Nithya Raman would present a tremendous amount of chaos," Bass told the California Post while voting with her family. She cited Raman’s pledge to fire Chief McDonnell as a key danger point.

"I don’t think she has a clue what it takes to get a police chief for the nation’s second-largest city," Bass said. She warned that initiating such a move would trigger a wave of resignations. "The minute she would initiate that, you will have officers leaving the department, and confusion sets in anytime they’re gonna sit around and wait to see who is going to lead them." Bass characterized Raman’s potential tenure as "chaos from day one," arguing it would upend city safety. The Daily Mail has reached out to Raman's campaign for comment.