Los Angeles Mayor Race Tied at 40% as Bass and Raman Court Young and Older Voters

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman are tied at 40% support each in the race for mayor, according to a Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times poll released Wednesday, with 19% of voters still undecided. Raman held an 11-point lead in September, but Bass has since narrowed the gap, partly by winning over voters who backed Spencer Pratt in the June primary. Bass is 73 and the incumbent; Raman is 45. Raman is campaigning on affordable housing, homelessness and better city services, and has pledged to cut the number of people living on the streets by at least 50% before the 2028 Olympics, build more housing and strengthen renter protections. Bass says she wants a second term to continue her work to reduce homelessness. Over Halloween weekend Raman attended parties across the city and urged young Angelenos to vote for her. At The Echo + Echoplex in Echo Park she dressed as P-22, the mountain lion whose 2022 death galvanized conservation support, and told the crowd, in part, that they have a chance to change the city.

The right-leaning New York Post leads with Raman's Halloween activity. Its headline calls her "shrieking" and describes a "chaotic" party and a "bizarre" costume, and the article centers on her dancing, her P-22 outfit, Instagram and stage clips, and her remark to the crowd. It then gives the tied poll, Bass's recovery and Raman's policy pledges. The left-leaning New York Times instead frames the race as a stark generational divide: young voters want affordability, older voters want stability, and that tension may be the biggest factor in the contest between Bass and Raman. The Times excerpt stresses ages and voter priorities rather than campaign-trail scenes. Both sides name the same two candidates and the contest's closeness. They differ in tone and focus: the Post uses mocking, personality-driven language, while the Times offers a demographic, issue-based analysis. Alternative or independent outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left- and right-leaning outlets had.