Frank Stoltze
is a veteran reporter who covers local politics and examines how democracy is and, at times, is not working.
Published February 17, 2026 5:00 AM
A view of Los Angeles City Hall.
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Topline:
The Los Angeles mayor's race is shaping up to be a doozy, with the late announcement by City Councilmember Nithya Raman that she’ll challenge her longtime ally incumbent Karen Bass. We've compiled a list of the candidates.
Backstory: The next mayor will face enormous challenges, including the continuing rebuilding efforts from the Palisades Fire, the ongoing homelessness crisis and preparations for the 2028 Olympics.
Forty candidates: There are 40 candidates in all. The list does not include former L.A. schools superintendent and businessman Austin Beutner, who dropped out at the last minute because of the death of his daughter.
Nor does it include billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who declined to stage a rematch against Bass. He lost to her in 2022, despite spending more than $100 million of his own money.
And L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath opted not to run the night before the Saturday filing deadline.
What's next: The primary election is in June. If nobody gets a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will face off in a November runoff.
The Los Angeles mayor's race is shaping up to be a doozy, with the late announcement by City Councilmember Nithya Raman that she’ll challenge her longtime ally incumbent Karen Bass.
The next mayor will face enormous challenges, including the continuing rebuilding efforts from the Palisades Fire, the ongoing homelessness crisis and preparations for the 2028 Olympics.
There are 40 candidates in all. The list does not include former L.A. schools superintendent and businessman Austin Beutner, who dropped out at the last minute because of the unexpected death of his 22-year-old daughter.
Nor does it include billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who declined to stage a rematch against Bass. He lost to her in 2022, despite spending more than $100 million of his own money.
And L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath opted not to run at the Friday night before the Saturday deadline for filing.
The primary election is in June. If nobody gets a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will face off in a November runoff.
Here is the list of candidates:
Karen Bass, incumbent mayor
Karen Bass, 72, is the incumbent. She’s a native of South L.A. who previously served in the state Legislature as speaker of the Assembly and as a member of Congress.
Karen Bass
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David McNew
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She has several early endorsements and a campaign war chest topping $2.4 million raised so far. None of the other candidates are listed in the latest Ethics Commission report as having raised any money.
Nine members of the 15-member City Council back Bass, as do a number of labor unions and business groups.
She touts a drop in homelessness and the lowest crime rate in 60 years as among her accomplishments. But she’s been criticized for her handling of the Palisades Fire. Bass was out of town when it broke out and there have been reports that she urged the city Fire Department to water down a report assessing the agency’s response to the fire.
For more information on her campaign, go to: karenbass.com
Nithya Raman, L.A. council member
Nithya Raman, 44, is in her second term on the L.A. City Council, representing District 4, which stretches from Silver Lake to Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley She was born in India and moved to the U.S. with her family when she was 6 years old.
Councilmember Nithya Raman photographed in her home.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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She was the first person in nearly two decades to oust an incumbent council member when she was first elected in 2020. Raman, an urban planner, was also the first in a wave of progressives elected to the council with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America. She is also aligned with YIMBY groups that want more housing density in the city.
Housing is a top issue for Raman, who has helped lead the fight for stricter rent control measures. She founded a nonprofit in L.A. called SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition that provided direct aid like meals and showers as well as case management.
Adam Miller, 56, is a tech entrepreneur from West Los Angeles who co-founded Better Angels, a nonprofit focused on preventing homelessness and building affordable housing. He made his fortune developing education software.
Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller is among those running for mayor of Los Angeles
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Miller’s company was called Cornerstone OnDemand. The publicly traded company was sold in 2021 to a private equity firm for $5.2 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times. According to his website, Miller grew up in New Jersey and went to graduate school at UCLA.
He said L.A. is not short on resources, compassion or talent but on leadership — and that he can provide that leadership. He has said he’ll spend some of his own money on his campaign but that he’ll also raise money from contributors.
For more information on Miller's campaign go to:votemiller.com/
Spencer Pratt, reality TV star and influencer
Spencer Pratt, 42, is a former star of the MTV reality series The Hills, which aired from 2006 to 2010 and The Hills: New Beginnings, which ran from 2019 to 2021. He is a social media influencer with more than one million followers on Instagram. He grew up in L.A. and earned a political science degree from USC.
Reality T.V. star Spencer Pratt is running for mayor of Los Angeles.
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Pratt Campaign
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Pratt lost his home in the Palisades Fire and has been an outspoken critic of Bass’ handling of the fire. He told NBC News his house was “stolen by criminal negligence.”
Pratt has said he would direct the Police Department to cooperate with federal immigration authorities to catch criminal unauthorized immigrants. He is endorsed by Richard Grenell, the former director of national intelligence in the Trump Administration.
For more information on Pratt's campaign go to: mayorpratt.com
Rae Huang, minister and organizer
The Rev. Rae Huang, 43, is a Presbyterian minister and community organizer who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. She is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants and grew up on the East Coast.
Rae Huang is among those running for mayor of Los Angeles
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Huang campaign website
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As deputy director of Housing Now! California, Huang directed statewide campaigns to make housing affordable and end the displacement of working class communities, according to her website. She is also an organizer with Clergy for Black Lives, a collective of Southern California faith leaders who advocate for racial justice, police accountability and support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
She touts how she led efforts to expand tenant protections under SB 567, which closed loopholes in “no-fault” just cause evictions and imposed stricter penalties on landlords for violations. Huang also points out that she supported the passage of a social housing study bill SB 555, which requires the state to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the opportunities for the creation of social housing.
Huang has said she wants to expand public housing in the city of L.A., provide free bus service and reduce spending on the Police Department investing instead in more unarmed crisis responders.
In addition to Karen Bass, Nithya Raman, Spencer Pratt, Adam Miller and Rae Huang, these are the other candidates for mayor, as they are listed on the City Clerk’s website.
Misael Ortega, painting contractor
Cassandra Faye Floyd, minister
Adam Carmichael, software systems architect
Tish Hyman, musician/entrepreneur
Juanita Lopez, political scientist
Stevie Maceo Milan, sales representative
Asaad Alnajjar, engineering manager, City of Los Angeles
Adolfo Guzman-Lopez
is an arts and general assignment reporter on LAist's Explore LA team.
Published May 19, 2026 5:53 PM
A man casts his ballot during early voting
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Jeff Kowalsky
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Topline:
Write-in candidates in Southern California are no joke. Election officials require them to qualify. While many are already in, Tuesday is the deadline to be considered. The full list will be released to the public Friday.
The rules: The city of L.A. requires write-in candidates to file a form and pay $300 or submit 500 valid signatures, while other cities may not require anything except paperwork. Qualified candidate names are sent to county election officials and will post the information Friday for voters.
Some write-in candidates: As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, the L.A. County Registrar of Voters listed 20 write-in candidates who filed in California for a wide range of races, from state Assembly and state Senate to governor. Of the 20, 11 filed as write-ins for the governor’s race.
Why it matters: Most write-in campaigns are a long shot but some have won: Lisa Murkowski won an Alaska U.S. Senate seat in 2010; Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony Williams was reelected in 2002.
Who gets counted: Only votes for qualified write-in candidates are counted and certified. Sorry, Mickey Mouse and George Washington.
What's next:Here’s the current list of qualified write-in candidates in L.A. County. Checking the box that says Show only Write In Records will show you write-in candidates. Orange County election officials say they have no write-in candidates.
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Updated May 19, 2026 5:56 PM
Published May 19, 2026 4:02 PM
A fire on Santa Rosa Island has been burning since May 15, 2015. The island is seen here in 1997.
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Carlos Chavez
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Several fires are burning across Southern California, with some destroying structures, threatening homes and charring pristine landscapes.
Where are the fires? A large fire is burning on Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park. A fire in Simi Valley has destroyed one home and led to multiple evacuation alerts. Two fires are in Riverside County, and a small fire is in the San Gabriel Mountains.
The forecast: Warm weather and Santa Ana wind conditions have hampered firefighting efforts and are expected to continue through Wednesday this week.
Read on ... for details about the Sandy Fire, Santa Rosa Island Fire and others.
Several fires are burning across Southern California, with some destroying structures, threatening homes and charring pristine landscapes.
Warm weather and Santa Ana wind conditions have hampered firefighting efforts and are expected to continue through Wednesday this week. The National Weather Service forecasts cooler weather and "May gray" through the weekend.
Here's a roundup of some of the fires burning now.
(All dates refer to today, Tuesday, May 19, unless otherwise noted)
The fire is burning in Channel Island National Park territory. Firefighters traveled by boat with their equipment to get to the island, according to news reports. The island is home to rare and endangered plants and animals.
CalFire reported about 2:40 p.m. Tuesday that lessening winds allowed "firefighters to take full advantage of improved weather to strengthen containment lines and continue aggressive suppression efforts. Crews remain actively engaged both on the ground and in the air to gain additional containment and keep the fire within its current perimeter."
The fire started Monday in the southern part of Simi Valley. It eventually spread eastward toward L.A. County communities in the San Fernando Valley, but overnight conditions were favorable to firefighters, CalFire said. Several communities were under evacuation orders and warnings, and schools in the area were closed.
The fire was first reported around noon Tuesday, according to CalFire, near Jurupa Valley (east of the 15 Freeway and south of the 60). CBS News Los Angeles reported that four people have been injured.
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Frank Stoltze
is a veteran reporter who covers local politics and examines how democracy is and, at times, is not working.
Published May 19, 2026 3:42 PM
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath sponsored the motion to create an L.A. County Ethics Commission.
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Screenshot via YouTube broadcast of L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting.
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Topline:
Citing a desire to prevent corruption within county government, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday established Los Angeles County’s first ethics commission.
The backstory: In 2024, voters approved Measure G, which called for the creation of an Ethics Commission and Office of Ethics Compliance. The measure came amid a series of corruption cases at L.A. City Hall but calls for reform spilled over into the county government.
The details: The motion by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and approved by the board Tuesday directs county departments to begin establishing the operational, staffing and legal infrastructure necessary to launch the commission in this year. It also directs staff to prepare a charter amendment for voter consideration on the November ballot to enshrine the commission in the charter.
Composition: Supervisors voted for a plan that calls for a seven-member commission. Initially, the chair of the Board of Supervisors, the county assessor and the Governance Reform Task Force would each appoint a commissioner, filling three spots. Those appointees would then select the remaining four members from a pool of applicants.
Opposition: Supervisor Janice Hahn supported the overall motion but opposed the composition of the commission, saying too many members were to be appointed by elected officials — the same people the panel would be charged with watchdogging.
History: The county has had its own campaign, lobbying and ethics laws on the books for years, but they were enforced by ethics officers in various departments. The latest proposal calls for a 54-member ethics office to enforce those laws and for the commission to impose fines if they are violated.
Students walk past a sign for a campus financial aid office Dec. 8, 2017.
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Lea Suzuki
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Topline:
After a spike in fraudulent applications to California’s community colleges, school officials say they are getting better at detecting and preventing fraud, though it still happens.
Why it matters: Between January and March 2025, scammers stole nearly $5.6 million in federal student aid and over $900,000 in state aid. By comparison, this spring colleges have reported losing just under $1.5 million in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraudsters. Last spring was “really the peak,” Hadsell said. He said he anticipates the end-of-year total in 2026 to be “significantly lower” than last year.
The backstory: Last spring, CalMatters reported that colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
Read on... for more on how community colleges in the state are cracking down on financial aid fraud.
This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.
California’s community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money.
Recent data shows the colleges’ efforts finally may be working.
Last spring, CalMatters reported that colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.
Now fewer scammers are bypassing colleges’ vetting systems, according to monthly reports, and school administrators say they’re better, though still not perfect, at detecting and preventing fraud.
After CalMatters reported on the rise in fraud last year, Republican U.S. Congress members called for a federal investigation, a Democratic state legislator launched a state audit and later, California’s Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office approved a new ID verification policy for students. Colleges now are more vigilant about policing fraud, said Jory Hadsell, an executive in technology initiatives for the chancellor’s office, who pointed to better filtering practices and new software to detect fraud.
Between January and March 2025, scammers stole nearly $5.6 million in federal student aid and over $900,000 in state aid. By comparison, this spring colleges have reported losing just under $1.5 million in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraudsters.
Last spring was “really the peak,” Hadsell said. He said he anticipates the end-of-year total in 2026 to be “significantly lower” than last year.
Even in the worst months, such as last spring, the money distributed to scammers is less than 1% of the total financial aid distributed to community college students in California. Students use the money to help pay for tuition, books and the cost of daily living expenses, such as rent, transportation and food.
But any fraud, however small, is unacceptable, said Chris Ferguson, executive vice chancellor of finance and strategic initiatives. “The ultimate goal for our system is zero.”
Some anti-fraud policies have been slow to take effect. The California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted nearly a year ago to require ID verification for all students, but only about 50% of college students are doing it as of this month. Hadsell said the delays arose in part because of complications verifying information of students under 18 years old, who represent a growing demographic for the community colleges. He said ID verification, which is currently optional, will become mandatory on July 1.
The board also voted to “explore” the option of charging students an application fee of no more than $10, but with the rates of fraud declining and other solutions that seem to work, the chancellor’s office is no longer pursuing that option, Ferguson said.
After blaming California officials, the U.S. Department of Education, which shares responsibility for administering federal aid and detecting fraud, said it would implement a “screening process” for applicants. It was supposed to take effect last fall but didn’t launch until last month, according to press releases from the department and statements from the California Student Aid Commission. CalMatters reached out to the U.S. Education Department five times over the last 12 months, seeking clarification, but the department has refused to respond to questions about delays with the screening process.
When more than a third of college applicants are fake
After classes suddenly moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office saw an increase in financial aid fraud on their application portal, CCCApply, which is used by nearly every student as the first step in applying to community college.
In 2021, the chancellor’s office suspected roughly 20% of applicants were fraudulent.
The estimate was higher in January 2024, around 25%. Last spring, it was 34%, though some schools saw much higher rates.
After they apply through CCCApply, students get filtered locally at their college of choice. In the Los Rios Community College District, which represents Sacramento, college officials suspected 64% of local applications from January to March 2025 were fraudulent. And that was after the state already vetted them through its portal, said Gabe Ross, a spokesperson for the district. The San Diego and Los Angeles community college districts also reported spikes in the number of fraudulent applications around the same time.
CalMatters reached out to the five largest community college districts for an interview. The Rancho Santiago Community College District, which includes parts of Orange County, did not provide sufficient data to draw conclusions about trends in fraud. The State Center Community College District, which represents schools in Fresno and Madera counties, did not respond to CalMatters’ questions.
Monthly data reports to the chancellor’s office show that once detected, most scammers who applied to community colleges were then caught and kicked out before they could apply for financial aid, but some succeeded.
This year, both Sacramento and San Diego community colleges say they’re seeing fewer attempts at fraud and are getting better at stopping those who try. The San Diego Community College District is now manually screening for fraudulent applications twice a week and is finalizing a contract with a company to help improve its detection software.
CCCApply has improved its filtering process, which helped reduce fraud attempts at Sacramento area colleges, said Ross. “When we talked about such a complex dynamic challenge, it's always hard to identify what's the one thing that sort of moved the needle. The truth is that we needed support from the feds, we needed support from the (chancellor’s) office, and we needed to invest in tools locally.”
This spring, he said the district flagged about 12% of college applications as suspect.
Using AI to detect AI
Measuring fraud is, by definition, imprecise. If a scammer is truly successful, colleges have no way to identify that fraud.
For a long time, administrators assumed bots enrolling in online classes were responsible for most fraudulent attempts. Yet teachers, students and financial aid administrators say some of the scams are more sophisticated now and are coming from real people impersonating students. Many fraudulent applications to Los Angeles’ community colleges have real names, dates of birth, and addresses that are likely “leaked or stolen,” said Nicole Albo-Lopez, the deputy chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.
In San Diego, Victor DeVore, dean of student services, said the college district only requires ID verification for students flagged as fraudulent. At that point they must prove their identity, either in person or through Zoom. Once, a potentially fraudulent student appeared on Zoom and presented a valid-looking ID that matched their face, but DeVore’s team noticed that the student’s IP address was odd. “One minute they’re logging in from Nairobi, the next minute they'll be logging in from Virginia,” he said, adding that the use of AI, virtual private networks (VPNs) or other technology has made fraud harder to detect.
Students’ personal data is supposed to be private, but school districts and education technology companies are frequently hacked. Last week, Canvas — one of the go-to learning platforms for California’s community colleges, University of California and California State University campuses — went offline temporarily due to a major hack. Its parent company, Instructure, said last week that it reached an agreement with the hackers to relinquish students’ data.
The state has turned to AI to fight fraud. Last summer, the state chancellor’s office negotiated a multimillion dollar contract with N2N Services Inc., enabling any college in the state to access the company’s software at a discounted rate. The software uses AI to detect potentially fraudulent applicants. Colleges are not required to use it, and so far, only about two-thirds do. Some districts, such as the Los Angeles Community College District, use a different fraud detection software, known as Socure.
Colleges and the state chancellor’s office continue to face political pressure and scrutiny of their approach to fraud. Last month, the U.S. Education Department said it had prevented more than $171 million in fraud in California after implementing a new policy regarding ID verification. Hadsell, with the state chancellor’s office, said the federal policy had no impact on California’s colleges. “They issued some interim guidance last year that basically said you should at least have a Zoom call with students and have them show an ID when you're approving their aid. And those were things that were already happening. It was not, you know, some new thing at least for most of our colleges.”
Kiran Kodithala, the CEO of N2N, which collects its own data on fraud at community colleges, said the education department’s claim makes no sense.
“I don’t see how $171 million in fraud in California can occur,” he said. “There’s no basis for those numbers. We’re not seeing anything remotely close.” Kodithala estimates that N2N has prevented over $34 million in fraud since last summer, though his platform is not yet in use by all of California's 116 community colleges.
Collecting more precise data may take months or years. U.S. Representative Young Kim, who represents parts of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, launched the effort for a federal investigation last spring, but her office could not provide any updates or confirm that an investigation was in fact underway. At the state level, the Legislature last year approved conducting an audit of how California’s community colleges handled fraud but the findings won’t be released until this summer.
