Karen Bass, Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman clash in LA mayoral debate

Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Republican challenger Spencer Pratt, and Democratic Socialists of America-aligned city councilwoman Nithya Raman squared off in a heated nonpartisan debate on Wednesday as the city heads toward its June 2 mayoral primary.

The debate, hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo 52, centered on questions of public safety, affordability and immigration. Conservative commentators on social media, as well as some on the left, generally felt that Pratt exceeded expectations as he jumps into politics following his history as a reality star on “The Hills.” 

Fox News Digital took a look back at the top moments of the debate, including Bass confronting top issues such as the Palisades fires that tore through Southern California in 2025.  

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‘Stabbed in the neck’

“First off, Inside Safe, I like to say Inside Safe makes all of us outside, unsafe,” Pratt said near the midpoint of the debate.

Inside Safe is a municipal program spearheaded by Bass intended to take people out of homeless encampments and bring them into temporary or permanent indoor housing. A city report found that it spent $300 million on the project, which assisted roughly 6,000 people, 40% of whom have since ended up back on the streets.

“The reality is, no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth,” Pratt continued. “They are on fentanyl. The DEA statistic says 93% of this is a drug addiction problem. I will go below the Harbor Freeway tomorrow with [Raman] and we can find some of these people she’s going to offer treatment for. She’s going to get stabbed in the neck.”

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‘This is a yes or no question’

Near the end of the debate, moderator Enrique Chiabra asked the three candidates a straightforward question.

“I want to ask you all three if this is a yes or no question and answer,” Chiabra said. “So there’s an LA council member. He wants voters to decide. He is saying that non-citizens, should they be allowed to vote in local elections. Is this a yes or no, Mr. Pratt?”

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Pratt answered in a single word: “No.”

Bass gave a longer answer, differentiating between green card holders and illegal immigrants, pointing out that some cities allow the former category to vote in local elections.

Raman, meanwhile, gave an answer that a Los Angeles Times columnist described as “tongue-tied.”

“Yeah, I would say again, it does depend in other places, school boards have non-citizens, non-citizens who are residents who vote for these,” she began to say, before a moderator cut her off.

‘The most dangerous thing that the mayor put us up against’

Early in the debate, Pratt took a jab at Bass over her handling of the January 2025 Pacific Palisades fires.

“To the mayor, Karen Bass, the thousand firefighters that were available, but there [were] no engines for them because of the $17 million that Chief Crowley had asked the mayor for nine weeks before, and Mayor Karen Bass denied it,” Pratt said. “Not to mention Janisse Quinones, who Mayor Karen Bass put into a position of power at the LA DWP. She drained both of these reservoirs that these firefighters needed to put out these fires.”

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Pratt called Bass’ conduct in the lead-up to the fires “the most dangerous thing that the mayor put us up against.”

‘Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together’

Raman, who has been struggling to break through in the polls, accused Bass and Pratt during the debate of working together to block her out of the general election.

“You’re going to watch today as Mayor Bass and Spencer Pratt attack me because they want to run against each other in the general election,” Raman said, directly addressing debate viewers. 

“First off, Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together,” Pratt responded. “I blame this person for burning my house and my parents house and my town and all my neighbors down.”

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He went on to point out that Bass’ strong relationship with labor unions and her status as incumbent mayor made her a stronger opponent than Raman, in his view.

Pratt concluded his statement by dismissing Raman as a “random council member.”

‘Public safety should be our number one priority’

As the debate shifted to public safety, Pratt took an opportunity to slam Raman for historically advocating for decreased police funding.

“Councilwoman Raman keeps saying that the police department is over funded public safety – should be our number one priority,” he said. “And we’re going to find all this money when we stop her useless open bed plans. That actually doesn’t put drug addicts in these housing, that we’re spending billions of dollars, and we’re going to actually start checking where this money is going.”

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Pratt proposed providing more resources to the Los Angeles Police Department to ultimately build the force to 12,500 officers.