Overview
- The three leading candidates met in their first televised debate Wednesday on NBC4 and Telemundo 52, trading sharp exchanges over the 2025 Palisades fire, homelessness, policing and immigration.
- Spencer Pratt blamed Mayor Karen Bass for the Palisades fire response, citing an emptied Santa Ynez reservoir and a denied $17 million engine repair request, and Bass replied that the reservoir is for drinking water and that staffing and deployment by then–Chief Kristin Crowley were the real problems.
- Bass defended her record on homelessness by touting Inside Safe and a reported 17.5% drop in people living on the street, while critics pointed to a city report finding that about 40% of participants returned to encampments.
- On public safety, Pratt said he would grow the LAPD to 12,500 officers over roughly a decade, Bass pushed to restore staffing closer to 9,500 after securing pay raises, and Nithya Raman argued for holding current levels to protect the budget.
- An NBC4 online poll after the broadcast showed roughly 88% of respondents calling Pratt the winner, yet earlier public surveys still put Bass in first with many voters undecided ahead of the June 2 primary.