karen bass withdrew from a Los Angeles mayoral forum scheduled for Wednesday, May 13, leaving the event with three of the five originally invited candidates still slated to appear. The forum is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs.
Her campaign said Bass had debated her top two opponents twice this week. Alex Stack said Bass would be in Sacramento on May 13 fighting for funding for housing, homelessness, and Palisades Fire recovery, and would also discuss the city and state partnership on the Olympics and World Cup.
May 13 forum lineup
The candidates still scheduled to appear are Councilwoman Nithya Raman, businessman Adam Miller, and community advocate Rae Huang. The forum was set to air May 13, after the first debate of the Los Angeles mayoral campaign involving each of the top three contenders was held on Wednesday.
That sequence leaves the forum with a narrower field than planned. Bass’s absence removes one of the three top contenders from a public appearance that had been part of the campaign calendar before the June 2 primary.
Alex Stack on Sacramento trip
Stack said Bass would be in Sacramento that day fighting for funding for housing, homelessness, and Palisades Fire recovery. He also said she would discuss the city and state partnership on the Olympics and World Cup. The campaign used that schedule to explain why she would not attend the forum.
At the first debate, Spencer Pratt called Mayor Karen Bass an incredible liar. The forum withdrawal comes after that debate, where Bass and her rivals had already faced one another on stage.
June 2 primary race
The May 13 forum now moves forward without Bass, and voters will see three candidates instead of five. For readers tracking the race, the practical change is simple: the remaining forum is no longer a full-field test of the mayoral contest, and Bass will be on a separate schedule in Sacramento instead of on the stage.
The campaign’s choice also puts the next visible comparison between the candidates in a narrower setting before the June 2 primary.
