The Brief

Coming into the first major mayoral debate, Los Angeles city resident Sapna Suresh wanted to understand how the potential alternatives to incumbent Mayor Karen Bass diagnose the problems the city is facing.

For the three candidates who attended the debate Monday, one diagnosis was clear: L.A. isn’t the city it could be.

• Adam Miller, founder of a homelessness nonprofit and self-described lifelong Democrat, said the city is “broken,” physically and figuratively.
• Nithya Raman, an L.A. city councilwoman, said the city is “challenged.”
• Rae Huang, a Presbyterian minister, community organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said L.A. needs “new and fresh leadership.”

The candidates, among 40 to qualify for the June primary, answered questions about housing and transportation over the course of about an hour and a half in downtown L.A. The debate was organized by groups Streets for All and Housing Action Coalition. Streets for All founder Michael Schneider and Housing Action Coalition’s Southern California Director Jesse Zwick moderated.

Bass declined the invitation to participate. Spencer Pratt, another candidate surfacing high in polling, was invited but did not attend. The debate came on the heels of a poll released Sunday from UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles Times that showed her leading the crowded field, even while many voters say they view her unfavorably.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass delivers her State of the City address from City Hall in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024.

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The poll found Bass had about 25% of support from likely voters. Raman, who entered the race just two months ago, is polling at 17%. Pratt, a former reality TV star, has 14% of support from those polled. Huang and Miller are each polling below 10%.

Takeaways from attendees

Truman Segal and Jacob Wasserman, whom LAist interviewed together, said they admired Huang’s passion, grassroots campaign and community-focused policies.

Ultimately, Suresh, who'd come to hear the candidates take on the state of the city, left the debate feeling confident about her pre-existing preference for Raman.

Councilmember Nithya Raman photographed in her home.

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“She was able to identify the problem, diagnose it, articulate a vision for how she would solve it, and point to specifics she’s done in her legislative career,” Suresh said.

Annika Wines said she appreciated the values Huang shared, but concluded that she’s “running on buzzwords.”

“I felt Nithya was running on a campaign platform with actual realized goals … and an actual plan about how she was going to attain more affordable housing, more housing in general, safer streets, more access to transportation,” Wines said.

Watch the full debate

Top issues covered

Measure ULA

A majority of city voters in 2022 approved Measure ULA, which taxes high-value real estate sales. The goal of the tax, commonly referred to as the “mansion tax,” is to raise funds for renters’ aid and development of affordable housing, though studies from academics and researchers have shown it has reduced multi-family housing production in the city.

The tax has been a high-profile subject in L.A. City Council, which earlier this month voted to form an ad hoc committee to explore reforms to Measure ULA.

When asked about their positions on the initiative, Raman invoked the reforms she tried, but failed, to get on the June ballot. She argued those reforms, including an exemption from the tax on apartment buildings built in the last 15 years, would still retain most of the revenue funding for eviction defense and affordable housing production.

“This is where Nithya and I disagree greatly,” Huang said, alleging that Raman, in concert with Bass, is “dangling the idea that developers will get a tax break” and supported revisions to the law without community input.

Raman pushed back on Huang, saying she worked with the tax’s proponents, labor groups and developers to come up with reforms.

Rae Huang is among those running for mayor of Los Angeles

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Miller said the law needs to be “greatly reformed” and has caused developers to shy away from investing in the city.

LAX management

The candidates also differed on management of Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency responsible for LAX. The agency has been criticized for pursuing a major roadways project with one of the developers working on the embattled Automated People Mover, which has suffered years of delays and nearly a billion dollars in budget overruns.

Raman faulted “disinterest from the leadership in City Hall” for the issues facing Los Angeles World Airports and said she’d use her position as mayor to make changes to airport leadership when projects aren’t done on time.

Immediately, Huang asked why Raman hasn’t pushed for changes in her time on council.

Raman retorted with a list of initiatives she pushed “over the areas that [she has] real control over.” Raman, who heads the city council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, specifically spoke about lowering annual rent increases.

Traffic fatalities

In 2025, 6% fewer Angelenos died in traffic fatalities than the year prior. Still, with 290 traffic deaths in the city last year, according to police data, L.A. is far from the goal it set a decade ago to reach zero such deaths.

When asked about their support for cameras that automatically issue tickets to drivers who run red lights, Huang was at first stumped but eventually said she doesn’t support technology that surveils the community.

Raman and Miller disagreed with Huang, saying L.A. should reinstate a red light camera program, which local leaders canceled back in 2011.

Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller is among those running for mayor of Los Angeles

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“Speeding kills, and automated enforcement is one tool in our toolkit to be able to address this,” Raman said. “ I would make sure that any automated enforcement tool that we're using will not share data, will not add to surveillance, but merely increase safety, and that's totally possible to do.”

Housing crisis

All three of the candidates largely fell on the same page about:

• The need to increase housing production
• Shortcomings of Bass’ signature homelessness program, Inside Safe,
• The need to boost the budget for street and sidewalk-focused city departments.

Huang and Raman emphasized how they’d both use the city’s four Metro Board seats to shepherd through timely regional transit projects. Huang committed to appointing transit riders rather than politicians as decision makers for the countywide transportation agency.

“ We need to ensure that our Metro Board is going to be actually driven by people who ride it,” Huang said.

Huang and Raman both also emphasized the need for multi-year budget plans to ensure infrastructure projects have dedicated funding to get done.

Other topics covered include congestion pricing, Executive Directive One and LADWP-related housing delays. You can watch the entire debate here.

Where was Mayor Bass?

A Bass campaign spokesperson said last week that the mayor “can’t participate in every debate invitation” but is “eager to discuss her record of changing L.A. and her vision for the future of Los Angeles."

The spokesperson did not answer follow-up questions about the reason for Bass’ absence. A regular Friday email from Bass’ communications office that details the mayor’s public events said she would be traveling out of state Monday and returning Tuesday morning.

For debate attendee Mikey Reid, the mayor’s absence could be seen as a positive.

“ We want to have multiple candidates taking her to task for certain shortcomings, but I felt it ultimately worked in the candidates’ favor in a way that they were able to just articulate their vision without necessarily only centering it on negatives,” Reid said.

New data from the Port of L.A. for March released on Monday shows a 7% increase in exports compared to the same month last year, with 132,000 containers leaving the port despite the turmoil in the Middle East.

“That's the highest output number for the export containers that we've seen in nearly two years,” Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of L.A. “While encouraging, we have much more work to do to develop a consistent upward trend."

The overall percentage change in container traffic in and out of the port in March is in the single digits, a 3% drop compared to the same month last year. Seroka said that’s because uncertainty over tariffs a year ago led companies to scramble to get their products through ports.

The longstanding trade deficit continues

However, while there’s an upward trend in exports, the data confirms something that’s been true for years: the U.S. is in a trade deficit. In March, overseas companies sent about three times more goods to consumers here than were sent out of the port by American companies. Last month, the port processed over 380,000 incoming containers, mostly from China, Vietnam and Japan.

That trans-Pacific commerce is insulating the Port of L.A. container volume from one of the most consequential geopolitical conflicts in recent memory — the war with Iran.

“So far, it's a concern, but it's not a worry,” Seroka said.

An electric top handler moves cargo off of semi-trucks at the Port of Los Angeles.

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Joel Angel Juarez

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CalMatters

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Foreign shipping companies that do business with the Port of L.A., as well as ports in the Middle East, are doing what they can to protect their trade with the U.S., Seroka said.

“The transpacific business is the most lucrative of any east west [trade] for the service providers and shipping lines… they'll go to great lengths to make sure those supply chains remain intact,” he said.

The port is the busiest in the Western hemisphere, generating more than $300 billion in trade last year, making it an important regional and national economic engine.

But the war is affecting shipping companies and consumers in other ways. The price of gasoline has gone up, as well as cargo ship fuel, which will likely be passed on to consumers.

The directors of a beloved Los Angeles puppetry institution said Monday their theater is here to stay now that they’ve worked out a plan to buy their building.

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater has been delighting L.A. kids — and kids at heart — since 1963. But in 2019, a landlord’s redevelopment plans forced the theater to move from its original location near downtown L.A. to its current venue in Highland Park.

Co-executive director Mary Fagot said discussions to purchase the building began in 2024. Those talks have culminated in a deal to buy the building for $5 million from its owner, Capstone Equities.

Once the sale is complete, Bob Baker will be able to redirect rent money to new programming, field trips and special events, Fagot said.

“Buying the building means that we won't be subject to rent increases or even another displacement in the future,” she said. “We'll be able to go on presenting our special brand of magic, creativity and imagination, here in this location, forever.”

How puppetry lovers can help secure the deal

The theater said it has already raised $4.5 million for the purchase from organizations such as the Perenchio Foundation, the Kohl Family Foundation and the Ahmanson Foundation, as well as philanthropists and celebrities, including Wallis Annenberg, Jack Black and Tanya Haden.

Now the theater is asking the public for help raising the last $500,000, so it can close the deal without carrying debt into the future.

The news comes as new audiences have been getting to see White Cat, Skateboarding Clown, Gorgeous and all of the theater’s other distinctive puppets in action.

Bob Baker puppeteers brought their talents to Coachella last weekend. They’ll be there again this weekend, adding a dash of whimsy to a lineup that includes headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber and Karol G.

What’s next?

The theater is also prepping to debut its first new show in 40 years, an hour-long train-themed adventure called Choo Choo Revue.

Fagot said L.A. families are always bringing new generations of kids to their regular shows in Highland Park.

“To be able to say with certainty that this theater will be here for my kids and my kids' kids, and really for the cultural landscape of Los Angeles for generations to come — it feels like a really big deal, not just for us, but for L.A.,” Fagot said.

Rep. Eric Swalwell said Monday that he will resign his seat in Congress, a day after he suspended his campaign for California governor following explosive allegations of sexual assault and misconduct from four women, including a former staff member, published by two news outlets.

He said he would "fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make."

Swalwell’s campaign collapsed Friday soon after the first report in the San Francisco Chronicle, in which the unnamed former staff member said Swalwell solicited oral sex from her while she was working for him and twice sexually assaulted her when she was too drunk to consent. The account was corroborated with medical records and by people the woman spoke with after the last incident, which she said took place in New York in 2024.

CNN later Friday published the same woman’s account, as well as those of three other women, one of whom said he kissed and touched her inappropriately and two of whom alleged he sent unsolicited nude photos and other inappropriate messages on Snapchat.

Dozens of supporters and staffers quickly dropped their support for him. Major unions and congressional candidates pulled their endorsements.

It was unclear when Swalwell would step down, but he said he would work with his congressional staff to ensure they are able to meet the needs of his San Francisco East Bay district, where he was first elected in 2013.

Because he is leaving the race after a state deadline to file for or withdraw from a race, his name will still appear on the June 2 primary ballot.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.