LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is heading into a challenging reelection bid as she continues to suffer fallout from last year’s devastating wildfire and ongoing criticism of City Hall on issues from street paving to homelessness.
The deadline is Saturday for candidates to enter the contest ahead of the June 2 primary election. Bass — a first-term Democrat and the first Black woman to hold the post — already is facing challenges from tech entrepreneur and nonprofit founder Adam Miller; reality television personality Spencer Pratt, who lost his home to the deadly Palisades Fire; and community organizer Rae Huang. A late entry was city council member Nithya Raman, a onetime Bass supporter who will now be trying to oust her.
Although the contest is officially nonpartisan, it is breaking along sharp political lines.
Pratt is a Republican in a heavily Democratic city who was endorsed by Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for governor, and Richard Grenell, an ally of President Donald Trump. Raman was the first council member elected with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America. Huang has positioned herself to the political left of Bass, who while in the U.S. House was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Homelessness, cost of living to be major issues
Bass greeted Raman to the race with a pointed jab: “The last thing Los Angeles needs is a politician who opposed cleaning up homeless encampments and efforts to make our city safer,” Bass campaign adviser Douglas Herman said in a statement.
The race is unfolding at an unsettled time for the city of nearly 4 million.
Complaints about the cost of living — whether for rent, taxes or groceries — are a constant refrain. Dirty, pocked streets and sidewalks abound. Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for more affordable locales.
Ongoing Trump administration immigration raids have shaken the city. Despite studies showing a slight decline in the homeless population, encampments remain commonplace. And recovery from the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed much of the tony seaside neighborhood in January 2025, continues at a pace that some say is too slow.
In an upbeat speech this month laying out her vision for the city’s future, Bass talked of the upcoming 2028 Olympics in the city and plans to spruce up busy thoroughfares.
“Even in this difficult chapter in our history, great events, moments of unity, are possible,” Bass said. “And they are coming.”
Los Angeles-based Democratic consultant Bill Carrick sees the race as wide-open. Under California’s primary rules, all candidates appear on the same ballot and the top two finishers advance to the November general election — a system that can lead to unpredictable outcomes. A candidate can win the mayoralty outright by capturing more than 50% of the primary vote, but that appears unlikely with a large field that is also expected to include a string of little-known contenders.
Voters are “kind of unhappy with city government, and I think the Palisades Fire certainly contributed enormously with that feeling,” Carrick said.
Controversy over handling of fire
The mayor, who was on a trip to Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the fire began raging through the Palisades neighborhood, has been on the defensive for her actions during and after the blaze.
The Los Angeles Times has published a series of reports, based on public records requests, showing that drafts of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report included deletions and revisions intended to soften the failures of city and department officials.
This week Bass’ office forcefully denied allegations in a Times story, based on anonymous, secondhand sources, that she pushed for changes in the report before publication to shield City Hall from potential legal action. She told reporters that the account was “completely fabricated.”
Officials have said the deadly blaze was ignited by remnants of a Jan. 1 fire that continued to smolder underground. In October, a 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with sparking the earlier fire. The LAFD has faced scrutiny over whether it properly extinguished the New Year’s Day blaze.
On his website, Pratt — who rose to reality-TV fame alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on “The Hills” — said he watched his home burn “because the system failed us.”
“We don’t need more government programs,” Pratt added. “We need common sense, accountability, and a mayor that shows up for everyone.”
Miller, a Democrat running as an outsider with the ability to invest in his own campaign, poses a new challenge for Bass, who defeated billionaire Rick Caruso in her 2022 election. Miller founded Cornerstone OnDemand, a global education company, and later cofounded the Better Angels nonprofit to address homelessness.
“Los Angeles has extraordinary potential but too often City Hall hasn’t been there for the people who call it home,” Miller said in a statement.
Two potential rivals stay out of the race
Bass also avoided two potential strong opponents in the contest.
Caruso decided not to run again after months of equivocation, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced late Friday that she, too, would not enter the race. Both have been outspoken critics of the mayor’s handling of homelessness and the fire and were widely seen as possible contenders.
“It’s clear you want a different kind of leadership and you are ready to see change in your city,” Horvath said in a video posted on the social platform X, but she added that her work on the county board was not finished.
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