Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has withdrawn from a candidate forum scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, leaving three of the five originally invited contenders still set to appear. The forum was to be co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs.
Campaign spokesperson Alex Stack said Bass will be in Sacramento that day to press for funding tied to housing, homelessness and Palisades Fire recovery, and to discuss the city and state partnership on the Olympics and World Cup. Councilwoman Nithya Raman, businessman Adam Miller and community advocate Rae Huang were still scheduled to take part.
The withdrawal comes after the first debate of the Los Angeles mayoral campaign involving each of the top three contenders was held Wednesday, a stage that also gave Bass fresh criticism from reality television personality Spencer Pratt, who called her an “incredible liar.” Bass’s campaign said she debated her top two opponents twice this week, suggesting she is choosing to spend more of her time in the state capital than at a forum that would have put her before a smaller field.
The forum is part of the final stretch of the race before the June 2 primary, and Bass’s absence underscores how the campaign is splitting between the debate stage and the governing agenda of a sitting mayor. By sending her to Sacramento instead of the forum, her team is betting that voters will see value in direct fights over money for homelessness and fire recovery more than in another night of candidate crossfire.
That choice also leaves the May 13 forum with a narrower field than first planned, even as the race moves toward June 2. Bass has already faced the top tier of her rivals this week, but her decision not to appear again shows that the contest is now as much about where she spends her time as what she says on stage.
