Mayor Karen Bass Withdraws From Upcoming Candidate Forum

LOS ANGELES, CA — Mayor Karen Bass has withdrawn from a candidate forum scheduled for broadcast Wednesday on Fox11, the co-sponsors announced Saturday, and Bass indicated she might be done with such appearances altogether, with her campaign saying "it's time to move past debates."

"The League of Women Voters and the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs regret to announce that Mayor Karen Bass has withdrawn from the televised Los Angeles mayoral forum," according to a statement from the two organizations. "The forum was organized to give Los Angeles voters the opportunity to hear directly from candidates seeking to lead the city through a period of extraordinary challenges."

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Organizers said five candidates had been invited to participate and four had accepted: Bass, Councilwoman Nithya Raman, businessman Adam Miller and community advocate Rae Huang. The fifth candidate, television personality Spencer Pratt, declined citing a scheduling conflict.

Both Bass and Pratt participated in a mayoral debate last Wednesday, which was televised on NBC4. On Tuesday, Bass debated Raman in Sherman Oaks.

"We debated our top two opponents twice this week, and it's been made clear that neither is up to the job," Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack told City News Service on Saturday. "Mayor Bass will be in Sacramento that day fighting for funding for housing, homelessness, and Palisades recovery, and will also discuss the city and state partnership on the Olympics and World Cup," he added.

The campaign released a slightly longer statement a couple hours later, which read in part: "The people of LA saw twice last week that Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt are not up to the job as mayor. That goes beyond performance -- the ineffectiveness and contradictions in their campaign promises were clearly revealed, especially for Councilwoman Raman, who has had six years to deliver real solutions but still hasn't. And she simply could not defend or hide her repeated votes to allow encampments near schools and to stop the hiring of new police officers. So, it's time to move past debates."

The Bass campaign did not immediately respond to an email asking whether the mayor was flatly ruling out any further participation in debates before the June 2 primary.

The campaigns of Pratt, Raman and Huang did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Miller's campaign criticized both Bass and Pratt for declining to participate in Wednesday's upcoming debate.

"When candidates back out of televised public debates, what does that say about their commitment and accountability to the people of Los Angeles? Adam Miller believes voters should have every opportunity to hear directly from the candidates, especially since many Angelenos are frustrated with the city's direction and are still deciding whom they trust to lead it forward," a Miller campaign spokesperson said Saturday. "As the only executive leader in this race with a proven record of results, Adam looks forward to sharing his vision and plans to fix LA on the May 13 debate stage, and anywhere else Mayor Bass or Spencer Pratt are willing to show up."

Raman's campaign released the following statement to CNS:

"At the debate, Nithya highlighted her progressive vision to make LA affordable for everyone. That includes her council record of capping rent increases for 1 million tenants and reducing homeless encampments in her district by 54%. And that includes her plan as mayor to triple housing production to lower costs and restore basic services to improve our quality of life. Voters can see that Nithya is the clear alternative to the broken status quo of the incumbent mayor, and MAGA Republican Spencer Pratt."

Meanwhile, the organizers of Wednesday's forum called Bass' withdrawal "disappointing."

"Public forums such as this are a cornerstone of democratic accountability," they said. "These forums provide voters with the opportunity to hear candidates share their perspectives, respond to questions, and engage with one another on issues facing Los Angeles."