LOS ANGELES (KABC) — With just days left in the campaign and Los Angeles Mayor, Karen Bass is going after her opponent councilwoman Nithya Raman for changing positions, specifically on her timeline for firing LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
“She changes her position every other day. But the latest one was – she would begin the process to remove him on day one. Then she said 2030, then she said, well, you know, maybe a little later. But the bottom line is. when she was asked who would you replace him with or who was your ideal, she had no idea,” Bass told Eyewitness News Political Reporter Josh Haskell.
Haskell asked Bass: “LAPD’s large budget has been blamed for a lot of the problems with this city by members of city hall, including by your opponent that includes some of the liability payouts. Do you think that’s fair to put it all on this LAPD large budget?”
“No. And as a matter of fact, it’s just not truthful. Because basically what she has said is, is that because I single-handedly, and Josh, you know, I don’t single-handedly do much, that because of that, that it drove the city to bankruptcy. The city was never facing bankruptcy. So any measure that I put forward to the council, the council has to vote for. Now, what is true is that she has always voted against giving raises to police. As well as police hiring,” Bass responded.
Haskell followed up: “In her reasoning for wanting to fire Chief McDonnell, Raman has said that she believes that the LAPD was working with ICE, protecting ICE. Have you looked into this? Did this happen?”
“It is not true. I mean, she said that they were working on behalf of ICE. That is not the truth. Now, she’s also talked about what happened at the protests. And, I think that that needs to be examined,” said Bass.
Bass also told Eyewitness News that the future of Los Angeles can be incredible with the Olympics coming, crime down, and new housing units coming online – if voters decide to stay the course and grant her a second term. But, she’s not in denial that this first term has had several missteps.
“Certainly in the Palisades and me not being here, and my focus on homelessness, number one, was getting people off the streets. One of the things that I could have done better is paid attention to transforming the system earlier. I was hoping it could be reformed. Now, I believe we need to have an entirely new system,” said Bass.
Haskell then asked: “What would you have done differently on homelessness earlier on than you waited now to do? In terms of LAHSA (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority)?”
“I would have pushed for us to have our own independent system so we had control over it. I don’t think that taxpayers are aware that the building for homelessness that we have done, that many of those beds are occupied by people outside the city of Los Angeles because the county controls that,” said Bass.
“You’ve never lost an election in your entire political career. Are you concerned that that could change next week?” asked Haskell.
“I don’t know a candidate, and I’m certainly one of them, that is not concerned about whether or not they will win an election. What about my last one? I was certainly worried,” said Bass.
FULL INTERVIEW: Josh Haskell’s full interview with Karen Bass
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is running for a second term as leader of the nation’s second-largest city. ABC7 reporter Josh Haskell sat down with Bass for this live interview.
Watch Eyewitness News at 8 a.m. all week for special Vote 2026 coverage as the midterm election countdown enters it final stretch.
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