election
A first-term mayor fights for a second.
RECORD / AT A GLANCE
Documented results; runoff pending
She is the incumbent and trails in the polls. The vote has not happened.
THE EVENTS / THE INVESTIGATION / THE STORY
February 7, 2026
Councilmember Nithya Raman files hours before the deadline after earlier endorsing Bass.
May 6, 2026
Spencer Pratt calls Bass “an incredible liar”; Bass blames the former fire chief for sending firefighters home.
June 2, 2026
Bass 34.3%, Raman 29.0%, Pratt 25.5%. Bass and Raman advance.
September 2026
Berkeley IGS has Raman ahead 39% to 28%, with a third undecided.
October 13, 2026
Homelessness, policing, housing and the fire dominate the only Bass–Raman televised debate.
November 3, 2026
Not yet held at the time of this edition.
READ THE FILE
Nithya Raman had endorsed Bass. Then, hours before the deadline, she filed to run against her.
A reality-TV star who lost his Palisades home ran on the fire and took 25.5%.
Bass led with 34%. A viral claim that Pratt got zero votes in a batch was a data-feed glitch.
Two citywide polls have Raman ahead. A Latino-voter poll has Bass ahead.
Both candidates stretched numbers. Bass’s fire-response claims mattered most.
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Nithya Raman had endorsed Bass. Then, hours before the deadline, she filed to run against her.
Councilmember Nithya Raman had endorsed Bass for reelection. On February 7, 2026, hours before the filing deadline, she entered the race. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath considered running, stayed out and endorsed Raman on October 20. [1] [2] [3] [5]
Bass runs on fast-tracked affordable housing and Inside Safe; Raman on tenant protections and cheaper subsidy models. YIMBY groups back Raman; building-trades groups back Bass. Raman’s critics call her a socialist; that label is theirs. [1] [4]
Source limits. Campaign claims and endorsements are interested sources.
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A reality-TV star who lost his Palisades home ran on the fire and took 25.5%.
Spencer Pratt, a Republican who lost his home in the Palisades fire, ran on the city’s response and called Bass “an incredible liar” in the May 6 debate. National Review, no friend of Bass, wrote that she downplayed her responsibility and that Pratt “bent the truth in certain spots.” [1] [2]
He finished third with 25.5%, winning the Palisades, Brentwood and Bel-Air heavily. He accused CBS of letting Bass’s side edit his interview, then praised the network after it posted the full interview; CBS denied any outside influence. [3] [4] [5] [6]
Source limits. CBS’s own fact-check page was not retrieved.
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Bass led with 34%. A viral claim that Pratt got zero votes in a batch was a data-feed glitch.
Certified results: Bass 292,593 (34.26%), Raman 247,781 (29.01%), Pratt 217,977 (25.52%). Bass and Raman advanced to the November 3 runoff. [1] [2]
Posts claimed a 24,000-vote batch gave Pratt zero votes. Reuters, PolitiFact, Poynter and the Times found an AP data feed had split one update in two; Pratt got 21,870 votes in the second piece. The county confirmed he received votes in every official update, and the Justice Department found no discrepancy, CNN reported. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
Source limits. The data-lag explanation comes from fact-checkers and AP.
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Two citywide polls have Raman ahead. A Latino-voter poll has Bass ahead.
Berkeley IGS for the Los Angeles Times (September 15–20, 2,150 likely voters): Raman 39%, Bass 28%, 33% undecided. McLaughlin & Associates for the California Post (October 15–18, 400 voters): Raman 46.7%, Bass 38.8%, with 71.7% disapproving of Bass’s job performance. BSP Research among Latino voters (October 1–8): Bass 40%, Raman 28%. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Rick Caruso praised her rebuilding work beside her on October 20 but did not endorse her. Councilmember Traci Park said she would vote for Bass. [5] [6]
Source limits. Methods and sponsors differ; the McLaughlin poll was commissioned by the Post.
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Both candidates stretched numbers. Bass’s fire-response claims mattered most.
In the October 13 debate, Bass’s “homelessness fell 11%” needed clarification (citywide: down 2.3% since 2023); Raman’s “nearly 50% drop” applied only to unsheltered people in her own district, 181 to 93. Bass’s claim to have cut red tape for rebuilding was accurate, though only 50 homes were finished by October 8. [1] [2]
In May, Bass said near-100-mph winds grounded aircraft. A CBS fact-check, as reported by others, said winds were weaker in the first hours and helicopters dropped water early; Reuters had documented that aircraft were grounded later on January 7. [3] [4] Her “the chief sent home 1,000 firefighters” line is now the subject of a defamation suit (see the command chapter).
Source limits. CBS’s original page was not retrieved.
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