{"id":300670,"date":"2026-05-05T11:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/300670\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T11:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:04:09","slug":"bass-pratt-and-raman-make-cut-for-tv-debate-as-l-a-mayors-race-kicks-into-high-gear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/300670\/","title":{"rendered":"Bass, Pratt and Raman make cut for TV debate as L.A. mayor’s race kicks into high gear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With just 28 days till election day, the Los Angeles mayor\u2019s race is heating up this week as leading candidates face off in debates that will highlight their diverging visions on issues such as public safety and homelessness. <\/p>\n

The debates are taking on added importance with polls showing large numbers of voters haven\u2019t made up their minds, and with many voters expressing unfavorable views<\/a> of incumbent Karen Bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this election cycle, debates are perhaps the most important because we have such a large swath of electorate that is still undecided,\u201d said Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College. <\/p>\n

The verbal skirmishes begin Tuesday with the influential Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. hosting an evening debate between Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, who represents the area.<\/p>\n

The following evening, NBC4 and Telemundo 52 host a televised debate from the Skirball Center. The TV stations said just three of the 14 candidates \u2014 Bass, Raman and reality television personality Spencer Pratt \u2014 polled 5% or above in two reliable polls, the requirement to participate. <\/p>\n

\"Mayoral <\/p>\n

Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt sits at the site of his former home in Pacific Palisades.<\/p>\n

(Eric Thayer \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Pratt has waged much of his campaign on social media. He\u2019s also a registered Republican in a heavily Democratic city. Even though the mayor\u2019s race is nonpartisan, Sadhwani said Pratt will need to pitch himself as \u201ca reasonable candidate who can reflect some of the core values of Angelenos.\u201d <\/p>\n

In that vein, she said, Pratt needs to distance himself from President Trump. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Angelenos would be OK with having a mayor aligned with Trump,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pratt campaign officials didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Dan Schnur, a politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, said that Pratt holds one advantage \u2014 his TV experience. Pratt gained fame on the MTV reality TV series \u201cThe Hills.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe certainly knows his way around the camera,\u201d Schnur said. \u201cSo it\u2019s likely that he\u2019ll make strong presentation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another storyline will be the duel between Bass and Raman, who were allies until Raman decided to run for mayor just before the filing period closed. <\/p>\n

While Bass and Raman will have to distinguish themselves from each other politically, the drama of their interaction will also focus on Raman\u2019s decision to jump into the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow will they greet one another? With a handshake, a hug or a scowl? These are the dramas that the political nerds like myself love to look for,\u201d Sadhwani said.<\/p>\n

The two debates reflect a winnowed field of mayoral hopefuls who are leading the pack both in polling and in money raised ahead of the June 2 primary. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote on June 2, the top two vote-getters will advance to a Nov. 3 runoff. <\/p>\n

\"Mayoral <\/p>\n

Mayoral candidate Adam Miller speaks with a small group of people in Los Angeles on April 9.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Mayoral candidates Rae Huang and Adam Miller criticized their exclusion from the KNBC\/Telemundo debate. Both candidates have been ranked in polls, but neither one was able to meet the requirement of garnering at least 5% support in two reliable polls.<\/p>\n

Huang received 8% in a poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, but garnered just 3% support in an Emerson College Polling\/Inside California Politics<\/a> poll.<\/p>\n

Huang, a progressive community activist, said she is performing well with younger voters, who are not traditionally polled as frequently since they are less likely to show up to vote. She also reported raising more than $250,000 since she joined the race in late 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of my campaign is to bring in people who don\u2019t decide to always vote,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is just another demonstration of how the media gatekeeps who ends up getting elected and has a huge role in shaping the political environment we currently have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller drew 6% in the Berkeley poll but failed to hit 5% in others. Miller, a tech entrepreneur who loaned his campaign $2.5 million, has asked NBC to reconsider its criteria for the debate, saying that the media company was relying heavily on old polls that don\u2019t accurately reflect the current field.<\/p>\n

\"Rae <\/p>\n

Rae Huang takes part in the first L.A. mayoral debate on March 23.<\/p>\n

(Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cKNBC has created a platform for the establishment to protect the status quo and exclude political outsiders at a time when an overwhelming number of Angelenos feel the city is on the wrong track and want a change,\u201d Miller said in a statement.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 said the debate inclusion criteria were determined April 14 and changing them now \u201cwould be inconsistent with the transparent process we set and applied uniformly to all candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schnur said that in a mayoral race with relatively little polling, NBC\u2019s requirements were difficult for lesser-known candidates to fulfill.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the lack of recent polling, it seems like an unfortunate and arbitrary decision [not to include Huang or Miller],\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like the campaign for governor, where cramming 10 candidates on a stage becomes a circus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bass, asked about the debates while fielding questions at City Hall on Monday, said the candidate forums are an important part of an election campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I also think that someone\u2019s track record is important, someone\u2019s ability to collaborate and someone\u2019s at least basic understanding of the government and how it works,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of those things are important, and it\u2019s incumbent upon me and everybody else running to communicate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raman didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just 28 days till election day, the Los Angeles mayor\u2019s race is heating up this week as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[79725,26355,12858,3705,13540,76578,26532,34917,64873,48,52,51,47,50,49,8111,36877,2211,32081,70556,149],"class_list":["post-300670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-adam-miller","tag-angelenos","tag-bass","tag-campaign","tag-candidate","tag-dan-schnur","tag-debate","tag-huang","tag-l-a-mayor","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-poll","tag-pratt","tag-race","tag-raman","tag-telemundo","tag-uc-berkeley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}