LOS ANGELES, CA – Mayor Karen Bass launched a “15 in 15” campaign tour Wednesday in Sherman Oaks, part of the council district represented by her challenger, Councilwoman Nithya Raman, one day after the two clashed in a televised mayoral debate over homelessness, policing and city leadership, according to Bass’ office.
The debate ran one hour on Tuesday, Oct. 13, in Universal City. The tour calls for an event in each of the city’s 15 council districts and began Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Council District 4, three weeks before the Nov. 3 general election.
Bass’ office said she would meet constituents who say Raman has been “absent and failed to lead while the Mayor stepped up to resolve issues in their communities.”
The Raman campaign responded that Raman attended a City Council meeting Wednesday morning and a committee meeting in the afternoon. The campaign also began airing a new television ad that features City Controller Kenneth Mejia.
Tour starts in Council District 4
Sherman Oaks is in District 4, which Raman represents. The campaign said Encino was added to the district after redistricting.
The tour is built around the claim that Raman has been absent from constituents. More stops are to be announced in the coming days.
Raman’s campaign answered by pointing to her council and committee schedule on the day the tour began.
Raman campaign airs new ad
The new Raman ad features Mejia and makes the case for a change in the mayor’s office, the campaign said. It says that under Raman, District 4 had the “largest decrease of homelessness of any council district in the city this past year.”
The campaign said the claim rests on the 2026 count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. It said street homelessness in the district fell 49% in the past year, with the number of people sleeping in cars down 23%, vans down 60%, RVs down 52% and tents down 47%.
The campaign also said the number of tents, encampments and RVs in the district fell 70% over the three years Raman has represented it. A release from Raman’s council office says that, per LAHSA, unsheltered homelessness in District 4 fell 49% between 2025 and 2026 and that dwellings such as cars, vans, RVs, tents and makeshift shelters fell 41%.
The campaign also cited a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll that it said shows Raman ahead of Bass, 34% to 26%. It said 63% of voters citywide view Bass unfavorably and 28% favorably, while 40% view Raman favorably and 39% unfavorably. Those are the campaign’s characterizations of poll results, which are a snapshot of voter preferences during a specific period and not a forecast of the outcome.
Citywide count rose in 2026
The district figures sit against a citywide picture that moved the other way. LAHSA’s 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, published July 24, found that after two consecutive years of drops, regional progress stalled, with a 3.4% increase to 45,194 people in the City of Los Angeles and a 1.2% increase to an estimated 73,040 people in the county.
The same release reports that unsheltered homelessness in the city rose 7.9% to an estimated 29,115 people. Countywide, unsheltered homelessness rose 3.3% to an estimated 49,002 people.
LAHSA’s results presentation is the document that backs the city and council-district figures. The count is a point-in-time estimate, so the district numbers and the citywide numbers describe different geographies measured the same year.
Bass and Raman split on homelessness policy
At the debate, Bass pointed to reductions in homelessness over the past three years through her signature program, Inside Safe, and to her first executive directive on building affordable housing. In a statement after the count was released, her office said homelessness in Los Angeles is down 11% since 2023 and that about 6,000 people have moved off the streets through Inside Safe. The statement attributed the most recent rise to federal and state policy and funding changes.
On stage, Bass said the 3.4% increase from 2025 resulted from state funding reductions. She said the city needs complete control of the system so there can be transparency and accountability.
Raman said homelessness fell by nearly 50% in her district while it rose across the city. She said Inside Safe has cost hundreds of millions of dollars, has been unaccountable to the public and has brought homelessness down only a little. She said Bass has refused audits of the program.
Bass said Inside Safe removed three encampments in Raman’s district that accounted for as much as 40% of homelessness there.
Anti-camping enforcement divides the candidates
Bass criticized Raman for voting against municipal anti-camping enforcement zones. She said Raman has consistently voted to not remove encampments in front of schools, leaving parents and children to navigate around them.
Raman said street homelessness is unacceptable to her. She said she pushes back on legislation that, at its most effective, uses scarce resources to move an encampment across the street.
Bass also told voters to look at her team, saying Raman has been in Los Angeles for 13 years, has served on two councils and has consistently voted against police officers.
Raman says she would replace the police chief
Raman said at the debate that she wants to replace Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell. “I want to replace the police chief. I have been very open about that,” she said.
She said McDonnell has lost the trust of Angelenos, especially in response to immigration raids. Asked about timing before the 2028 Olympic Games, she said it “will depend on other factors, on other decision-making bodies.” She said the decision is not unilateral and depends on the Police Commission and the City Council.
Bass said removing the chief as the Olympics approach would “send the LAPD into disarray.” She said the city was “640 days away from the largest sporting event to ever take place, a major national security event.”
Leadership and crime data come up
The debate also turned to the Palisades Fire, which Bass was out of the country for. Bass apologized and said she was sorry she was not in the city when it needed her. She promised preparedness under new Fire Chief Jaime Moore.
Raman said the voters she has spoken to describe a mayor who has been “MIA,” calling that unacceptable. She said she would be on the front lines in another emergency and described both the Palisades Fire and the Lineage warehouse fire as leadership failures.
On public safety data, Raman said neighborhood-level crime data that used to be public is no longer available under this mayor. Bass acknowledged LAPD delays in compiling it. Bass said she opposed renewing the Flock license-plate-reader contract, while Raman expressed skepticism about the technology.
County moves to take over homelessness functions
The campaign comes as the structure that runs homelessness programs is under review. The Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing said in a statement that the Oct. 9 Continuum of Care general membership meeting was postponed after attendance exceeded the virtual platform’s capacity.
The department said the 2026 count showed 62% of the county’s homeless population is in the City of Los Angeles. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in her own statement that failing to hold the meeting is “unacceptable and erodes public trust.” She said Los Angeles County is “ready to lead the Continuum of Care and unite our region’s response to homelessness.”
The Continuum of Care voted 331-9 on Oct. 13 to have Los Angeles County take over the region’s annual homeless count and the lead application for federal homelessness funds, functions LAHSA had held, according to initial reports.
General election is Nov. 3
Bass and Raman advanced from the June 2 primary to the November general election. A downtown neighborhood forum on Oct. 15 is set to have the two appear separately.
The remaining stops of Bass’ 15-district tour had not been announced as of Wednesday. Voters will decide the race for mayor of Los Angeles on Nov. 3.
