Election 2026 · City of Los Angeles

Los Angeles Mayor

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 11, 2026

Karen Ruth Bass (incumbent) and Nithya Raman are the candidates for Los Angeles Mayor on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

The Mayor is the chief executive of the City of Los Angeles. The Mayor manages City departments, appoints department heads and most commissioners (subject to City Council confirmation), and proposes the City budget each year. Ordinances passed by the City Council are subject to the Mayor's approval or veto.

Summary by CityHallPass, not the official text or legal advice. The official text controls: LA County's official election information.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

14 candidates. No one won a majority, so the top two, Karen Ruth Bass and Nithya Raman, advanced to November 3. Total votes for Mayor: 853,894. The County Registrar certified the results on June 26, 2026. Certified results

The candidates

The job

Powers. The City Charter vests “management authority” in the Mayor, “who shall be the Chief Executive Officer of the City” and must “execute and uphold all laws and ordinances of the City” (Charter Sec. 230, archived American Legal copy). The Mayor can issue executive directives, which are direct orders to City departments (lacity.gov). The Mayor can also declare local emergencies and issue emergency orders. Mayor Bass used these for homelessness in 2022 (CF 22-1545) and for the 2025 fires (Mayor’s office list).

Budget. The Mayor writes the budget. Under current Charter text, the Mayor must send a proposed budget to the Council by April 20. The Council can approve it or change it by June 1. The Mayor can then veto Council changes, and the Council needs a two-thirds vote to override (Charter Secs. 312, 313 and 315 as printed in the November 2026 Voter Information Pamphlet, Measure LA text). Measure LA on this ballot would move the City to a two-year budget (Voter Information Pamphlet, Measure LA).

• The FY 2026-27 budget is $14.85 billion. The Mayor signed it on May 28, 2026 (Mayor’s office). The Council passed it 12-1 (CD5 release).
• In the proposed version, the General Fund, which pays for basic services, was $8.59 billion. Special funds were $6.26 billion (CAO overview).
• The adopted budget holds a Reserve Fund of $515.1 million, 6% of General Fund revenue (CD5 release).
• The CAO wrote that the proposed budget did not meet the City’s policy on “structural balance.” He also listed “areas of concern,” including a Palisades repayment shortfall, pension non-compliance and underfunded obligations (CAO overview).
• The year before, the City closed a deficit of nearly $1 billion. The proposed FY 2025-26 budget called for more than 1,600 layoffs. In September 2025 the Mayor’s office said labor deals and job transfers had averted all remaining civil service layoffs (Mayor’s office).

Departments and staff.

• Los Angeles has about 44 departments and bureaus. Their General Managers are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council. Members of boards and commissions are “generally appointed by the Mayor, subject to the approval of the City Council” (lacity.gov).
• The proposed FY 2026-27 budget funds 33,710 regular positions in the general City budget. Another 20,325 positions are in the Airports, Harbor and Water and Power departments, for 54,035 total (proposed budget, Exhibit C).
• The two largest departments are Police ($3.53 billion, 13,598 positions) and Fire ($1.46 billion, 3,904 positions) (proposed budget, Exhibit C).
• LAPD has 10,757 authorized sworn positions. The CAO expected 8,555 sworn officers on payroll on July 1, 2026. The budget pays to hire 510 officers to hold that number (proposed budget, Police notes).

Key appointments.

• The Mayor picks the police chief, and the Council confirms. Bass chose Jim McDonnell on October 4, 2024 (Mayor’s office). LAist reported that she chose among three finalists after a search that included the Police Commission (LAist).
• Bass named Jaime Moore fire chief on October 24, 2025 (Mayor’s office). The Council confirmed him 12-0 on November 14, 2025 (KFI/City News Service).
• The Mayor appoints half the members of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) commission, LAist reported (LAist).

Facts that shape the job now.

• Homelessness. LAHSA’s January 2026 count estimated 45,194 homeless people in the City of LA. Of those, 29,115 were unsheltered and 16,079 were in shelters (LAHSA, City of LA summary). That is up 3.4% overall and 7.9% for unsheltered people from 2025. LAHSA said “neither change is considered statistically significant” (LAHSA). The LA Times later reported that an accounting glitch caused nearly half of the increase (LA Times).
• Palisades Fire recovery. Crosstown reported that the January 2025 fire destroyed nearly 7,000 structures (Crosstown). As of August 12, 2026, more than 1,000 homes had started construction, the Palisadian-Post reported, citing the Pali Rebuild Map (Palisadian-Post). POLITICO reported 49 homes completed as of late September 2026 (POLITICO via Yahoo).
• 2028 Olympics. In August 2026 the Council voted 10-4 to approve a cost-recovery agreement with LA28, the private organizing committee, LAist reported. Under the Games deal, the City covers the first $270 million of any LA28 loss. LAPD personnel costs for the Games are estimated at $1.15 billion. CAO Matt Szabo said the agreement does not have “the capability of eliminating risk that the city has agreed to take on” (LAist).

Records

Karen Bass

Offices before Mayor. Bass represented parts of Los Angeles in the U.S. House from 2011, chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from January 2019, and chaired the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa (USC Keck). Before that she was in the State Assembly, where she became Speaker. Her office calls her “the first African American woman to ever lead a state legislative body” (Mayor’s office bio). USC says her budget negotiations after the 2008 recession earned her the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award (USC Keck).

Homelessness.

• She declared a homelessness emergency dated December 12, 2022. The Council ratified it 13-0 the next day, and Raman voted yes. The Council has renewed it repeatedly, most recently to November 2027 (CF 22-1545).
• She created Inside Safe by Executive Directive 2 on December 21, 2022 (Mayor’s office list). The program moves people from tents and encampments into hotels, motels and other interim housing (Mayor’s office; LA Times).
• As of February 28, 2026, her office reported 5,808 people moved indoors through Inside Safe, 1,431 permanently housed, and operations in all 15 council districts (Mayor’s office). The 142nd operation was announced September 26, 2026, with “more than 6,000” moved inside to date (Mayor’s office).
• Inside Safe had a $250 million budget in FY 2023-24 (LAist). LAist, citing a February 2026 CAO report, said an Inside Safe bed cost $225.81 a night against $86.37 for other shelter, and that more than $390 million had been spent since late 2022 (LAist).
• The LA Times, citing LAHSA figures, reported that 41% of the people Inside Safe moved indoors had returned to homelessness by May 31, 2026 (LA Times).
• City homeless counts under Bass, from LAHSA:

• LAHSA said the 2024-to-2025 drop in unsheltered people added up to 17.5% over two years (LAHSA, 2025). LAHSA blamed the 2026 rise mainly on a pause in new time-limited rent subsidies (LAHSA, 2026). On the 2026 count, Bass said “our efforts ultimately couldn’t keep up.” She also cited a cut in state homelessness money that she said cost the City $70 million (Mayor’s office).
• On March 4, 2026, as the County left LAHSA to form its own department, Bass warned against the City “withdrawing from LAHSA too quickly, without a plan” (Mayor’s office).
• A court-ordered audit reviewed about $2.4 billion in City homelessness money and found LAHSA “failed to verify whether the services invoiced were provided.” Bass said: “This audit validates our work” (LAist, March 2025).
• In March 2025 Bass told a federal court she does not consent to a City Controller audit of Inside Safe, saying “it’s not right for one elected official to audit another” (LAist).

Housing.

• Executive Directive 1 (ED1), signed December 16, 2022, speeds approval of 100% affordable projects (Mayor’s office list). A June 12, 2023 revision barred ED1 projects in single-family zones (ED1 revised text). A July 2024 revision excluded historic districts and added tenant protections (ED1 revision 3).
• Her office says more than 47,000 affordable units are “in the pipeline.” It also says 10,265 affordable units were completed from December 11, 2022 to August 31, 2026. Council District 4, Raman’s district, had 130 of them. The Council made ED1 a permanent ordinance in December 2025 (Mayor’s office). These are the office’s own figures.
• She signed the first update to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance formula in about 40 years. It caps yearly increases at 1% to 4% and passed the Council 12-2 in November 2025 (Mayor’s office).

Budget.

• FY 2025-26: she signed a budget of about $13.9 billion on June 6, 2025, facing a deficit of about $1 billion (ABC7). Her proposal had included more than 1,600 layoffs. Her office said in September 2025 that all remaining civil service layoffs were averted (Mayor’s office).
• FY 2026-27: $14.85 billion (Mayor’s office). MyNewsLA reported that no new layoffs were discussed this year (MyNewsLA).

Police and crime.

• Her FY 2023-24 budget aimed for about 9,500 officers by June 2024. The CAO projected 8,908 (LA Times via Police1).
• In April 2026 the LA Times reported LAPD had 8,677 sworn officers, “the lowest total in nearly a quarter-century.” Bass told the paper: “My goal changed, unfortunately… I do hope that one day we get to the expansion, but we are not there now” (LA Times via Governing).
• She backed the 2023 police contract, which the LA Times said would cost nearly $1 billion over four years (LA Times). She signed Executive Directive 14 on officer hiring on September 11, 2025 (Mayor’s office list).
• LAPD’s 2025 crime report says homicides fell 19% from 2024 to the lowest level since 1966 (lacity.gov). FOX 11 reported 230 homicides in 2025 against 284 in 2024 (FOX 11).

Palisades Fire.

• Bass left for Ghana on January 4, 2025 for a presidential inauguration. The fire started January 7, and she landed back in LA on January 8, CBS News reported (CBS News).
• On February 21, 2025 she removed Fire Chief Kristin Crowley (CBS LA). The Council voted 13-2 to uphold the removal (CBS LA).
• Emergency Executive Order 1 (January 13, 2025) set up expedited “like-for-like” rebuilding. Later orders suspended plan-check and permit fees (EO7), allowed larger rebuilds (EO8), and barred SB 9 lot splits in burn areas (EO9) (Mayor’s office list).
• By November 21, 2025 her office reported more than 1,070 permits for over 540 addresses and the first certificate of occupancy for a rebuilt home (Mayor’s office). Crosstown counted 3,090 building and electrical permits in the Palisades by early January 2026, with an average wait of 49 days (Crosstown).
• She signed the ballot argument for Proposition TE, the ULA exemption for fire victims (Voter Information Pamphlet).

Immigration.

• During the June 2025 protests over federal immigration raids, she imposed a week-long downtown curfew. The LA Times reported that LAPD made 575 arrests in that period (LA Times).
• Executive Directive 12 (July 11, 2025) and Executive Directive 17 (February 2026) cover the City’s response to federal immigration operations (Mayor’s office list; ED17 release).
• The City joined a lawsuit that led a federal judge to limit warrantless immigration arrests in Southern California (Mayor’s office, Sept 16, 2026).

Olympics. At 1,000 days out, on October 17, 2025, she issued Executive Directive 16 and a “Games for All” plan that calls the Games “transit-first” (Mayor’s office).

Ethics and court records.

• FPPC. The FPPC issued a warning letter in a “Lobbying Reporting” case against “Spkr. Karen Bass Officeholder Acct.-Assembly 2008.” The FPPC case portal lists the case as number 2016-08428, opened Feb. 6, 2014 and closed Feb. 12, 2014, with the entries “Violations Found - Action Taken” and “Warning letter issued” (FPPC case 2016-08428). The portal does not post the letter.
• Nothing found elsewhere. No City Ethics Commission enforcement order names her (City Ethics enforcement orders). No FEC administrative fine or ADR case, and no House Ethics Committee or Office of Congressional Ethics matter, names her (FEC legal search; House Ethics). She is not a State Bar licensee (State Bar search). Searched Sept. 30, 2026.

Nithya Raman

Office. Raman has represented Council District 4 since December 2020. After 2021 redistricting, the district includes parts of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, the Hollywood Hills, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, Van Nuys and Reseda (CD4).

Committee roles.

• CD4 press releases in 2025 identify her as chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee (CD4, Nov 12, 2025). The LA Times reported in August 2026 that she had chaired it since 2023 and would lose the post (LA Times).
• Her office bio now lists her as chair of the Civil Rights, Immigration, Social Services and Neighborhoods Committee and vice chair of Planning and Land Use Management (CD4 bio).
• Mayor Garcetti appointed her to the South Coast AQMD air board in 2022 (CD4). Her term ended January 15, 2026, and Bass appointed Adrin Nazarian to the seat (AQMD).

Homelessness.

• She voted no on each vote adopting the 2021 anti-camping law, LAMC 41.18 (13-2, July 1 and July 28, 2021). She also voted no on its 2022 expansion to schools and daycare centers (11-3, August 2 and 9, 2022) (CF 20-1376-S1).
• She voted yes on Bass’s homelessness emergency in December 2022 and on most renewals (CF 22-1545).
• She wrote the motion creating a homelessness oversight bureau in the Housing Department. The Council advanced it 13-0 on March 19, 2025 (CF 25-0207). The Council also adopted her 35 performance measures for homelessness spending on August 26, 2025 (CF 25-0576; CD4). LAist reported that the 2025-26 budget created the bureau but did not fund it (LAist). In June 2026 LAist reported three of its 10 positions were filled (LAist).
• She wrote a 2024 motion to use more time-limited rent subsidies. Her office cited $71 million in FY 2023-24 subsidy money that went unspent (CF 24-0996; CD4).
• Outcomes her office reports: “more than 2000 people” moved from the street into interim housing and 633 permanently housed since December 2020 (CD4). Her office says CD4’s unsheltered count fell 49% from 2025 to 2026 (CD4), and the LA Times reported the same 49% figure (LA Times). The Bass campaign credits Inside Safe for that drop (LA Times). Raman said her district had three Inside Safe operations in four years (LA Times).

Housing and tenants.

• She moved the Rent Stabilization Ordinance change that the Council passed 12-2 on November 12, 2025. It sets a 1% floor and a ceiling of 4% or 90% of inflation, and ends the gas and electric add-ons (CD4).
• She co-authored the right-to-counsel eviction defense ordinance, adopted 14-0 on April 1, 2025 (CF 18-0610-S3), and the Affordable Housing Overlay Zone motion, adopted 14-0 in 2021 (CF 21-0972).
• On August 19, 2025 she voted against the Council’s 8-5 resolution opposing SB 79, the state bill allowing denser housing near transit (LA Times).
• In January 2026 she moved to put Measure ULA changes on the June ballot, including a 15-year exemption for new buildings (CD4). CalMatters reported the Council sent it to committee instead (CalMatters). She later called the effort “my biggest fumble” (LA Times).

Police and public safety.

• She co-authored the 2022 motion to send unarmed civilian teams to some non-violent calls (CF 22-0979).
• She voted no on the August 2023 LAPD contract, which passed 12-3. Her reason: “This contract, because of its enormous fiscal impact, potentially prevents us from being able to build out an alternative response to nonviolent calls for service” (LA Times).
• In January 2026 she voted no on a plan to add 170 LAPD recruits, which passed 9-4 (LAist; LA Times).
• In 2021 she signed a proposal to cut the police hiring goal by 300 officers. After it failed, she voted for the budget (LA Times).

Budgets.

• She voted yes on the FY 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets (CF 22-0600; CF 23-0600). LAist noted the 2023-24 budget included $250 million for Inside Safe (LAist).
• She voted no on FY 2024-25, which passed 12-3. Her comment: “paying our workers shouldn’t be pitted against optimal service delivery” (MyNewsLA).
• She was not among the three no votes on FY 2025-26 (LA Times).
• MyNewsLA reported Traci Park as the only no vote on FY 2026-27, which passed 12-1 (MyNewsLA).
• She and Katy Yaroslavsky cast the only no votes on the $2.6 billion Convention Center expansion in September 2025 (LA Times).

Other authored items.

• The sanctuary city ordinance, adopted unanimously on November 19, 2024. She was a co-mover (CF 23-0243; CD4).
• A cut in the street vending permit fee from $541 to $27.51, approved in 2024 (CF 13-1493-S15; CD4).
• Live Spanish interpretation at Council committees (CF 22-0436).
• Lobbying-law changes, still pending in committee (CF 22-0560).
• A red-flag warning motion with Yaroslavsky during the January 2025 fires (CD4).
• She was vice chair of the ad hoc committee on governance reform (CD4).

Attendance. LAist counted nearly 3,000 missed Council votes since 2020, including 556 in 2025, the third most. Her campaign said many absences were excused for AQMD board duties (LAist).

Ethics and court records.

• No public enforcement actions found in FPPC, City Ethics Commission or FEC records (FPPC case search; City Ethics enforcement orders; FEC legal search). She is not a State Bar licensee (State Bar search). Searched Sept. 30, 2026.

Where they stand

The issue list comes from the top concerns in the Berkeley IGS/LA Times poll of September 15-20, 2026: infrastructure, moving homeless people indoors, crime and public safety, and affordable housing. It also draws on the Berkeley IGS March 2026 poll, the UCLA Luskin Quality of Life Index 2026 (cost of living, transportation, deportation fears, fire recovery), and the topics of the May 5, May 6 and August 19 debates (see Key moments).

Bass’s campaign site has no issue pages. Its Why I’m Running, How We Changed LA and accomplishments pages describe her record (checked Sept 30, 2026). Her entries therefore come from actions in office, interviews and the LAist Voter Game Plan questionnaire (published Sept 14, 2026). Raman’s entries come from her undated campaign issue pages (checked Sept 29, 2026), interviews and the same questionnaire.

On the other ballot measures

Placement votes are from each measure’s council file. The ballot pamphlet is the City Clerk’s November 2026 Voter Information Pamphlet.

For the City measures, a Council vote to place a measure on the ballot is not an endorsement.

Endorsements

The LA Times reported on Sept 1, 2026 that Bass had more than 30 union endorsements and Raman had five, according to the campaign websites (LA Times). The lists below come from each campaign’s endorsement page, checked Sept 30, 2026, and each bullet links to the list it came from.

Karen Bass

• Elected officials:
  • Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi (Bass campaign list).
  • Gov. Gavin Newsom (Daily News).
  • U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (ABC7).
  • Reps. Barragán, Chu, Robert Garcia, Kamlager-Dove, Lieu, Rivas, Sherman and Waters (Bass campaign list).
  • Attorney General Rob Bonta and Treasurer Fiona Ma (Bass campaign list).
  • Supervisors Solis, Mitchell, Hahn and Barger, Sheriff Robert Luna and Assessor Jeff Prang (Bass campaign list).
  • Former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto (Bass campaign list).
  • Council President Harris-Dawson and Councilmembers Blumenfield, Hernandez, Hutt, Jurado, Lee, McOsker, Nazarian, Imelda Padilla, Price, Rodriguez, Soto-Martinez and Yaroslavsky (Bass campaign list).
  • The LA Times reported that Hernandez, Jurado and Soto-Martinez, who are DSA members, endorsed Bass and cited her response to immigration raids (LA Times).
• Party: Los Angeles County Democratic Party (LAist; FOX 11). The race is nonpartisan, but the party endorsed.
• Unions:
  • Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (LAist).
  • SEIU Locals 721, 99, 1000 and 2015, and SEIU-USWW (Bass campaign list).
  • Los Angeles Police Protective League (Bass campaign list). The LA Times reported the league had put nearly $2.8 million into its pro-Bass efforts this year (LA Times). City filings show the league’s committees spending against Raman (see Outside spending below).
  • IATSE Local 33 and Teamsters Local 399 (Deadline).
• Business groups: LA Area Chamber of Commerce (through L.A. Jobs PAC), BizFed PAC, Central City Association PAC, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce PAC and VICA PAC (Bass campaign list).
• Organizations: Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project LA County Action Fund, CHIRLA Leadership Action Fund, EMILYs List, Stonewall Democratic Club, Community Coalition Action Fund and Democratic Mayors Association (Bass campaign list).
• Newspapers:
  • La Opinión, in the primary (May 29) and the general (Aug 31).
  • LA Sentinel, Korea Times and Korea Daily, listed on the Bass campaign list. Their editorials were not opened.

Nithya Raman

• Elected officials: City Controller Kenneth Mejia (FOX 11), LAUSD Board Member Rocío Rivas, former Controller Laura Chick, former Councilmember and LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks, and Pasadena Councilmember Rick Cole (Raman campaign list). No sitting City Councilmember is listed.
• Party: No party endorsement. The County Democratic Party endorsed Bass (LAist).
• Unions:
  • UNITE HERE Local 11 (LA Times).
  • Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, which sponsors a $6 million outside committee backing her (LA Times).
  • Writers Guild of America West (Deadline).
  • SEIU 121RN, CIR/SEIU, UAW Region 6 and the Engineers and Architects Association (Raman campaign list).
• Organizations:
  • Democratic Socialists of America-LA, by a 937-484 vote (LA Times).
  • LA Forward, Streets For All, Abundant Housing LA and LA League of Conservation Voters.
  • California Working Families Party, ACCE Action, Sunrise Movement, California Environmental Voters, Our Revolution and Indian American Impact (Raman campaign list).
• Newspapers: None found.

Listed by both campaigns: California Women’s List appears on both the Bass list and the Raman list as of Sept 30, 2026. Neither page is dated, and the group’s own endorsement page could not be read, so which candidate it backs in November is not confirmed.

Editorial boards not yet found: No LA Times or Daily News general-election endorsement was found as of Sept 30, 2026. The Daily News endorsed Adam Miller in the primary (Daily News). No mayoral endorsement was found from UTLA (UTLA) or the firefighters’ union UFLAC (UFLAC).

Polls

These are public polls by academic or media pollsters that publish their methods. Campaign and outside-group internal polls are left out.

On the September poll, Bass spokesperson Alex Stack called it an “outlier poll.” He said online polls undercount “working-class families, seniors, and non-English speaking communities” (LA Times).

Money

Source: City Ethics Commission, 2026 election totals, checked Sept 30, 2026; candidate loan dates are from City campaign contribution data. “Raised” follows the Ethics definition. It includes the candidate’s own money and excludes matching funds. Committees: Bass 1471359 (primary) and 1492037 (general); Raman 1487932 (primary) and 1492051 (general).

The per-person limit for Mayor is $1,800 per election, so a donor can give $1,800 for the primary and $1,800 for the general. The Mayor’s primary matching-fund maximum is $1,257,000 and the general maximum is $1,507,000 (Ethics 2024 CPI table, which applies to the 2026 elections). Both candidates received the primary maximum. Raman has received the general maximum. Bass has received $978,440 of it.

Other receipts listed on the committees’ statements (City campaign contribution data): Bass’s primary committee recorded $47,157.37 in transfers from the Committee Against the Recall of Karen Bass (June to September 2025). Raman’s primary committee recorded $55,443.06 from Middle Seat Consulting LLC as miscellaneous increases to cash.

Data check: the City’s donor-level file (City campaign contribution data, updated Sep 29, 2026) adds up to the Ethics “raised” figure to the cent for both candidates ($4,785,054.88 and $2,137,313.98). Matching-fund receipts in that file match Ethics for Bass ($2,235,440). For Raman the file shows $2,664,752.84 received through Sep 19, which is $99,247.16 less than the $2,764,000 Ethics lists. The Ethics figure probably includes a payment made after Sep 19. The file has only Form 460 data, so contributions received after Sep 19 are not in it.

Who is giving

Method: itemized contributions (money and in-kind) to both committees of each candidate, Jan 1, 2024 (Bass) or Jan 1, 2026 (Raman) through Sep 19, 2026, from City campaign contribution data. A donor is a normalized name plus ZIP code. Refunds are netted against the donor. Contributions under $100 that the committee did not itemize ($39,783.95 for Bass, $119,166.05 for Raman) have no donor detail and are left out of donor counts.

Source: City campaign contribution data (Form 460 filings through Sep 19, 2026), analyzed by CityHallPass.

Geography. Method: each donor’s ZIP code is assigned to the City if at least half of that ZIP code’s area lies inside the City, using the City’s list of ZIP codes within its boundary (City list of ZIP codes) and Census ZIP code areas. Other California ZIP codes are assigned to LA County using the Census ZIP-to-county file. 101 ZIP codes count as City ZIPs. Forty-four ZIP codes are split, with 5% to 95% of their area in the City.

Source: City campaign contribution data (Form 460 filings through Sep 19, 2026), analyzed by CityHallPass.

Split ZIP codes account for 20.8% of Bass’s itemized dollars and 14.4% of Raman’s. If every ZIP code that touches the City is counted as City, the City share becomes 63.8% of dollars for Bass and 74.6% for Raman (City campaign contribution data).

Karen Bass

Bass’s committees list 4,515 itemized donors (City campaign contribution data). Two thirds of her itemized dollars (65.8%) came in gifts at the $1,800 per-election maximum. Donors giving under $250 in total gave 1.9% of itemized dollars. About half her itemized money (49.8%) came from City ZIP codes, and 13.9% came from outside California.

Top employers by dollars (normalized names):

Source: City campaign contribution data (Form 460 filings through Sep 19, 2026), analyzed by CityHallPass.

By donor count the top employers are the City of Los Angeles (61), County of Los Angeles (24), UCLA (23), AltaMed (19), LAUSD (18), USC (16), Actum (15), Manatt (12), State of California (12) and Netflix (10) (City campaign contribution data).

Industries (share of itemized dollars): not employed or retired 23.6%; law 9.1%; health care 6.3%; entertainment and media 6.1%; finance and investment 4.9%; consulting with no field stated 3.9%; real estate and development 3.4% (161 donors, $158,705); education 3.1%; government 2.7%; lobbying, public affairs and political consulting 2.3%; construction 1.7%; labor unions and union staff 1.6% (51 donors, $75,225); non-union political committees 1.3%. 20.8% could not be assigned an industry (City campaign contribution data).

Organizations that gave directly include Sony Pictures Entertainment ($3,600), the Motion Picture Association Local PAC ($3,600), Quest Diagnostics PAC ($3,600), UFCW Local 324 PAC ($3,600), SEIU Local 721 ($3,000), the District Council of Iron Workers PAC ($1,800), Precise Air Systems ($3,600), SBE Electrical Contracting ($3,600) and Imperial T & S Plumbing ($3,300). The largest individual totals are $5,400 each, from three donors. Each total is three contributions of $1,800 (City campaign contribution data).

Same-employer giving within three days (five or more donors from one employer):

Source: City campaign contribution data (Form 460 filings through Sep 19, 2026), analyzed by CityHallPass.

Registered City lobbyists: three donors match someone on the City lobbyist registry for 2024-2026 (964 lobbyists; City lobbyist registry) by both name and firm. They gave $2,000 in total, or 0.04% of itemized dollars. Eight other donors share only a name with a registered lobbyist and are not counted.

City contractors: 138 donors ($115,846, 2.5% of itemized dollars) list an employer, or are an organization, whose name matches a vendor on City department contract reports from 2023 to 2026 (City Ethics contract data, 14,475 records). Most are employees of law firms and nonprofits with City contracts, such as Foley & Lardner, Squire Patton Boggs, Gibson Dunn, Holland & Knight, Special Service for Groups and Goodwill Industries of Southern California. Five vendors gave directly: Cordoba Corporation ($1,800; Public Works contracts), Zum Services ($1,800; LADOT), Seventh Street Garage ($1,800; Harbor and LAPD), Olivarez Madruga Law Organization ($1,000; CAO) and Yusen Terminals ($1,000; Port of LA).

Nithya Raman

Raman’s committees list 3,510 itemized donors (City campaign contribution data). Half her itemized dollars (49.9%) came in gifts at the $1,800 maximum. Donors giving under $250 in total were 49.1% of donors and gave 11.1% of itemized dollars. With unitemized gifts included, contributions under $250 are 16.2% of her contributions. Sixty-five percent of her itemized money came from City ZIP codes, and 12.3% came from outside California.

Top employers by dollars:

Source: City campaign contribution data (Form 460 filings through Sep 19, 2026), analyzed by CityHallPass.

By donor count: UCLA (68), Netflix (41), City of Los Angeles (39), Disney (35), NBCUniversal (28), Apple (23), Kaiser Permanente (21), County of Los Angeles (21), LAUSD (17) and Google (16) (City campaign contribution data).

Industries: entertainment and media 31.4% (900 donors, $611,497.50); not employed or retired 18.0%; law 5.1%; technology 4.9%; education 4.8%; health care 4.3%; architecture, engineering and planning 3.2%; real estate and development 2.6% (88 donors, $50,788); government 2.5%; finance 2.4%; labor unions and union staff 0.7% (27 donors, $13,343.44). 14.5% could not be assigned an industry (City campaign contribution data).

Seven organizations gave directly: Streets For All PAC ($3,600), California YIMBY Victory Fund ($3,600), Engineers and Architects Association Civic Betterment Association ($1,900), the SEIU Committee of Interns and Residents PAC ($1,800), Building a Stronger West, the Carpenters’ committee ($1,293.44 in kind), Abundant Housing LA PAC ($1,000) and Climate Action California PAC ($500). The largest individual total is $4,600 (City campaign contribution data).

Same-employer giving within three days (five or more donors from one employer): NBCUniversal, 6 donors on Sep 19, 2026 ($4,360); Disney, 7 donors Sep 17-19, 2026 ($4,263); Apple, 7 donors Sep 18-19 ($3,807); Netflix, 5 donors Sep 15-17 ($3,450); Disney, 5 donors May 14-16 ($2,464). These fall just before the Sep 19 reporting deadline (City campaign contribution data).

Registered City lobbyists: no donor matches a registered City lobbyist by both name and firm (City lobbyist registry). Six donors ($1,024) share only a name with a registered lobbyist and are not counted.

City contractors: 111 donors ($49,782, 2.6% of itemized dollars) list an employer on City contract reports (City Ethics contract data), such as Inner City Law Center, LTSC Community Development Corporation, Bestor Architecture, HNTB and SCAN Health Plan. No City vendor gave directly.

Industry rule: each donor gets the first category whose keywords appear in the employer name, then in the occupation. Retired and not-employed occupations come first. The union category counts union PACs and people employed by unions. It does not count union members who work for other employers.

Outside spending

Totals: independent spending supporting Bass is $2,828,496.56 (Ethics search) and opposing her is $544,692.42 (Ethics search). For Raman it is $2,793,513.82 supporting (Ethics search) and $2,518,090.00 opposing (Ethics search), as of Sept 30, 2026. Estamos con Nithya reported one $376,062 radio buy (Admire Media, Sep 21) both as supporting Raman and as opposing Bass, so Ethics counts it in both totals.

Source: City Ethics independent expenditure reports supporting Bass (search), opposing Bass (search), supporting Raman (search) and opposing Raman (search), checked Sept 30, 2026. On Sept 29, Estamos con Nithya amended its Sept 4 report: a $100,000 canvassing payment first listed to UNITE HERE Local 11 is now listed to Higher Wages Lower Rent Alliance, and its polling payment fell from $64,100 to $57,600.

Member communications (paid by an organization to its own members; Ethics searches for Bass and Raman): the LA County Democratic Party spent $132,865.33, SEIU 721 spent $7,932.05, Laborers Local 300 spent $4,653.87 and SEIU 2015 spent $60.75 supporting Bass. The Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters spent $1,000 supporting Raman.

Who funds the outside committees. Amounts are contributions received from Jan 1, 2025 through the latest filing. City-filed committees come from City campaign contribution data. State-registered committees come from Cal-Access (Form 460 Schedule A, the summary page, and Form 497 late reports), read from the Secretary of State’s bulk export of Sept 29, 2026; each is linked below to its Cal-Access page. Where a funder is itself a committee, its own funders are shown one level down.

Angelenos for Progress (pro-Bass, $1.75 million received): Central City Association PAC $999,000; Committee to Expand the Middle Class Candidate Committee, sponsored by Airbnb, $750,000; Democrats for Better Communities $1,000 (City campaign contribution data).

• Central City Association PAC (Cal-Access; 2025-26 receipts $2,292,194.33): Airbnb’s Committee to Expand the Middle Class $1,600,000; Uber Innovation PAC $175,000; NBCUniversal Media $100,000; Delta Air Lines $75,000; Sempra $55,000; McCourt Partners Real Estate $25,000; Chevron $20,000; United Airlines $18,500; Equity Residential $16,900.
• Committee to Expand the Middle Class Candidate Committee (Cal-Access): $15,000,000 from Airbnb, Inc. on Jun 16, 2025, its only contribution since Jan 1, 2025.
• Airbnb money reaching this IE committee: $750,000 directly, plus Airbnb’s committee supplied $1.6 million of the $2.29 million the CCA PAC raised in 2025-26 (City campaign contribution data; Cal-Access).

Working People in Support of Karen Bass (LA Fed; $1,119,817.90 received): SEIU Local 721 Workers’ Strength Committee $450,000; SEIU Local 2015 $250,000; State Building and Construction Trades Council PAC $100,000; SEIU Local 99 IE PAC $75,000; AFSCME $75,000; UFCW Local 770 PAC $50,000; LA County Building Trades PAC $50,000; SEIU United Service Workers West $50,000 (City campaign contribution data).

• SEIU 721 Workers’ Strength Committee (Cal-Access): SEIU Political Education and Action Fund $1,800,000 (Aug 26, 2026); SEIU COPE, the union’s federal PAC, $1,724,493 (Dec 24, 2025); SEIU Local 721 $1,000,000 (Sep 8, 2025); unitemized $654,922.06.
• State Building Trades PAC (Cal-Access): receipts are from union locals as intermediaries for member contributions, led by Operating Engineers Local 3 ($229,072.98) and Southern California Pipe Trades Council 16 ($188,571.34).
• UFCW 770 PAC (Cal-Access) and LA County Building Trades PAC (Cal-Access): all 2025-26 receipts unitemized ($474,227 and $422,233.70).

LA For All of Us (LA Fed; $215,000 received): LA Fed COPE $100,000; Working People in Support of Karen Bass $100,000; $5,000 each from the committees of state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor and Sade Elhawary for Assembly. LA Fed COPE’s 2025 receipts (Cal-Access, through Dec 31, 2025) were mostly unitemized ($191,482.29), plus local unions led by UTLA ($21,226.93).

Latinos por Karen Bass ($506,236 received): Vecinos Unidos por Bass, sponsored by LiUNA Local 300, $406,236; Unidos con Karen Bass $100,000 (City campaign contribution data).

• Vecinos Unidos por Bass: Laborers Local 300 Small Contributor Committee $135,000 plus a $200,000 loan; Southern California District Council of Laborers PAC $100,000; Building LA $50,000 (Sep 15, 2026); LiUNA Local 1309 PAC $5,000 (City campaign contribution data). The Laborers Local 300 Small Contributor Committee’s 2025-26 receipts (Cal-Access) all came from the Construction Laborers Dues/Vacation Trust ($857,545.81).
• Unidos con Karen Bass ($920,000.01 received): SEIU 721 $150,000; SEIU 2015 $100,000; State Building Trades IE PAC $100,000; SEIU USWW $100,000; SEIU Local 99 $80,000; William Resnick $50,000; Michael Stubbs $50,000; Gregory Adams (Kaiser Permanente) $50,000; LA Jobs PAC of the LA Area Chamber of Commerce $50,000; Women’s Political Committee $45,000 (City campaign contribution data).

Building LA ($612,000 received): IBEW Local 11 PAC $250,000; State Building Trades IE PAC $200,000; LA County Building Trades PAC $50,000; Community Safety Partnership, sponsored by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, $50,000; Heat and Frost Insulators Local 5 PAC $25,000; one individual $25,000; Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 761 PAC $10,000; LA County Building Trades Council $2,000 (Sep 22, from its IE report) (City campaign contribution data).

• IBEW Local 11 PAC (Cal-Access): all $1,893,205 of its 2025-26 receipts are unitemized member contributions under $100.
• State Building Trades IE PAC (Cal-Access): California State Association of Electrical Workers $250,000; Painters District Council 16 $250,000; Sheet Metal Workers Local 104 $45,000; plus member contributions forwarded by locals.
• Heat and Frost Local 5 PAC (Cal-Access) and Plumbers Local 761 PAC (Cal-Access): all 2025-26 receipts unitemized.

The People’s PAC ($120,000 received): Community Coalition Action Fund $100,000; SEIU Local 99 IE PAC $20,000 (City campaign contribution data).

Estamos con Nithya ($6,000,000 received): Building a Stronger West, sponsored by Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, $3,000,000; Aaron Sosnick (A.R.T. Advisors LLC) $3,000,000 (City campaign contribution data).

• Building a Stronger West (Cal-Access): every contribution it reported from Jan 1, 2025 to Sep 19, 2026 was unitemized, meaning under $100 each. These total $6,732,643.50. It started 2025 with $10,387,717.80 in cash. Its sponsor, the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, paid its legal and reporting costs as in-kind contributions.

Streets for All Los Angeles PAC: contributions listed on its City IE reports (Ethics search): Aaron Sosnick $1,000,000 (Aug 10 and Sep 17, 2026); Todd Wexman $50,000; Yuval Bar-Zemer (Linear City Development) $50,000; five other individuals $81,250 in total. We did not find a Form 460 for this committee in City data or Cal-Access (searched through the Sep 19, 2026 filings).

Progress Action Fund (federal hybrid PAC): its City IE report (Ethics search) lists 58 contributions of $100 to $500 ($7,023 total). Its FEC summary for Jan 1, 2025 to Jul 15, 2026 shows $3,596,221.86 in receipts, including $559,164.81 in itemized and $1,272,215.12 in unitemized individual contributions and no contributions from other committees (FEC).

UNITE HERE Local 11 PAC (Cal-Access): UNITE HERE Local 11 $478,515.55; unitemized $281,407.39.

Small Businesses, Police Officers and other First Responders Opposed to Nithya Raman ($970,520 received): LAPPL Independent Expenditure Committee $870,520; Los Angeles Professional Managers Association PAC $100,000 (its 2025-26 receipts are all unitemized, $102,900; Cal-Access).

• LAPPL Independent Expenditure Committee (2025-26 receipts $4,356,350; it spends in other races too): Los Angeles Police Protective League $3,500,000; Douglas Emmett Properties and affiliated entities $525,000; Jerry Greenberg (Hard Scale Eats LLC) $150,000; Kilroy Realty Corporation $100,000; LAPPL PAC $56,350; one individual $25,000 (City campaign contribution data).
• LAPPL PAC: all receipts unitemized ($311,012 in City data for 2026; $894,659.50 on Cal-Access through May 16, 2026).

Other: Maccabee PAC Opposing Raman for Mayor 2026 reported one contribution, $1,800 from an individual. It has no independent expenditures on file. The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs gave $725,000 to its Californians for Safer Neighborhoods committee in 2025-26 (Cal-Access). Its Community Safety Partnership committee, which gave to Building LA, has no 2025-26 filings in the Cal-Access extract.

Transfers between committees: Working People in Support of Karen Bass gave $100,000 to LA For All of Us. Building LA gave $50,000 to Vecinos Unidos por Bass, which gave $406,236 to Latinos por Karen Bass. Angelenos for Progress returned $64,026.80 to the CCA PAC (City campaign contribution data).

Behested payments

A behested payment is a payment an official asks a person or company to make to someone else, such as a charity or a government program. City officials must report behested payments of $5,000 or more. Source: City Ethics behested payment reports.

Mayor Bass: 575 payments totaling $38,997,646 from 366 payors, dated Dec 7, 2022 to Aug 26, 2026 (six are dated before Dec 12, 2022). By year: 2022 $265,000; 2023 $8,354,500; 2024 $11,466,190; 2025 $12,228,894; 2026 through August $6,683,062 (City Ethics behested payment reports).

Source: City Ethics behested payment reports.

Source: City Ethics behested payment reports.

The largest single payments: Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation to the Mayor’s Fund, $3,989,882 (Jul 1, 2025, homelessness prevention); Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to the LA4LA Fund, $2,148,000 (Dec 6, 2023); Lineage Logistics to the California Community Foundation, $2,000,000 (Jun 23, 2026, for the Impact Fund benefiting Boyle Heights); Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation to the Mayor’s Fund, $1,500,000 (Mar 6, 2024); Health Net to the Mayor’s Fund, $1,300,000 (Apr 17, 2024). Airbnb.org’s $1,000,000 (Jul 11, 2026) went to emergency housing for families affected by the Boyle Heights warehouse fire. Airbnb, Inc., a separate entity, funds the committee that gave $750,000 to Angelenos for Progress (see Outside spending) (City Ethics behested payment reports).

Councilmember Raman (since 2023): three payments totaling $22,500 (City Ethics behested payment reports). Children’s Hospital Los Angeles gave $7,500 to Cheremoya Elementary School for a back-to-school giveaway (Aug 31, 2023). Consensus Inc. gave $7,500 (Feb 2, 2025) and Live Nation gave $7,500 (Mar 5, 2025) to the American Diabetes Association, the second for the LA Political Roast. She reported two earlier payments in 2021-2022, which bring her total to five payments and $35,250.

Key moments

Debates and forums

What the debates covered, as reported:

• May 5: the cost of Inside Safe, the 41.18 anti-camping law and the 2023 police contract (LA Times).
• May 6: the Palisades Fire response and police hiring (LA Times).
• Aug 19: Raman’s Council attendance, Inside Safe audits and cost, the January 2026 police hiring vote, SB 79 and campaign consultants (LA Times; ABC7; LAist).

India West reported that Raman said she accepted debates on NBC4, CBS2/KNX, ABC7/Univision and KTLA/CNN. Bass spokesperson Alex Stack said Bass had already agreed to numerous forums and debates (India West).

Events

• Raman enters the race (Feb 7, 2026).

  • What happened: Raman filed hours before the deadline (ABC7; LA Times). On Jan 27, eleven days earlier, Bass had announced Raman’s endorsement of her (LA Times).
  • Bass’s response: “it was a surprise” (ABC7).

• Primary count (June 2026).

  • What happened: election-night returns put Pratt second. Raman moved past him in later counting, CNN and AP reported (CNN; PBS/AP).

• Homeless count rises (July 2026).

  • What happened: the City count rose 3.4% (LAHSA; LAist).
  • Bass’s response: she cited state funding cuts (Mayor’s office).
  • Raman’s response: her office noted a 49% unsheltered drop in CD4 (CD4).

• Raman loses the homelessness committee chair (Aug 2026).

  • What happened: Council President Harris-Dawson split the Housing and Homelessness Committee into two, neither chaired by Raman (LA Times; LAist; ABC7).