Mayor Karen Bass looks directly at the camera and casts Los Angeles as family, and herself as its protector.
“I don’t run from a fight,” Bass says in her first general election campaign ad, recounting her encounter with federal immigration agents during an operation at MacArthur Park last July. “And if they come for us, any of us, they’ll answer to me.”
City Councilmember Nithya Raman is making a different pitch.
In a new 60-second spot, Raman talks about homelessness, housing and renters, but also streetlights and potholes, before delivering the refrain at the center of her message: “We deserve a city that works.”
With less than a month until Election Day, the two candidates’ advertising frames the choices facing Los Angeles voters in very different ways. Bass is presenting herself as an experienced fighter who will defend the city, while Raman is casting herself as a change candidate who can make City Hall work better.
The contrast also reflects the terrain on which each campaign would like the final weeks of the mayoral race to be fought. Bass has repeatedly invoked her confrontation with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown as evidence that she will stand up for Los Angeles. Raman is emphasizing dissatisfaction with homelessness, affordability and basic city services as she argues that voters should reject the status quo.
Those messages can appeal to some of the same voters, political experts said, particularly Angelenos who oppose President Donald Trump’s immigration policies but are also frustrated with how their city is functioning.
Fernando Guerra, founding director of Loyola Marymount University’s Center for the Study of Los Angeles, said Bass’ ad emphasizes a strength that stretches across her political career: presenting herself as someone who has fought for Los Angeles and built a broad coalition in the city. Immigration also has particular resonance in a city with a large immigrant population and where opposition to Trump runs deep, he said.
“It’s about Angeleno values,” Guerra said.
The Bass campaign has made the fighter message explicit.
“She is the fighter that L.A. needs,” Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack said. “She is the one who has the experience that L.A. needs.”
The campaign released “I Don’t Run” on Sept. 17 in English and Spanish, saying the ad, which would run across digital platforms, would place particular emphasis on voters of color who have been among Bass’ strongest supporters.
In the 30-second spot, Bass recalls going to MacArthur Park after federal immigration agents arrived there.
“When someone comes after your family, you don’t hesitate,” Bass says. “You stand up. You fight.”
Her campaign says the moment illustrates something broader than immigration.
Stack said Bass has spent her career fighting for Los Angeles and described the MacArthur Park confrontation as encapsulating who she is as a person. The campaign is now running ads across streaming and digital platforms, as well as broadcast and cable, and plans to continue advertising through Election Day, Stack said. He declined to disclose how much the campaign is spending.
Bass’ subsequent advertising has expanded on that message. A second ad, “Deliver,” touts her record on affordable housing and the entertainment industry while again invoking her confrontation with federal immigration agents. It ends with Bass acknowledging that she does not “always get everything right” but promising never to stop fighting for Los Angeles.
Her campaign has also gone on offense against Raman. A third ad, “No Show Raman,” attacks the councilmember over missed votes and her record on homelessness.
Matt Barreto, a UCLA political science professor who studies Latino political behavior, said Bass’ focus on Trump could both energize voters already inclined to support her and potentially connect with undecided voters who are frustrated with the president. But he said the effectiveness of that strategy will depend in part on how widely the campaign’s ads are seen.
Barreto described it as an effort to remind voters: “If you’re frustrated with President Trump, I’m the one fighting him.”
But Raman is asking voters to judge the race on a different set of frustrations.
Her new ad opens with the council member saying she wants Los Angeles “to work the way that Angelenos want it to, the way they vote it to.”
Supporters describe her as “the ultimate outsider” and someone who “cannot be bought off,” while clips tout a decline in street homelessness in her district and tenant protections approved during her time on the council.
Then Raman turns to the mundane problems of city life.
“We can have streetlights that work,” she says. “Potholes that are paved.”
She promised to protect renters, build housing and end homelessness and the affordability crisis before concluding: “City Hall shouldn’t be for sale. We deserve a city that works.”
Raman campaign spokesperson Liz Garcia said the campaign wants the voters to see a choice between “the status quo” and a new direction for City Hall, arguing that Raman’s record on the council shows she can deliver results.
“We really want to make sure that Angelinos know that they can either vote to have more of the same or they can vote for change,” Garcia said.
The campaign has pointed to a 49% decline in unsheltered homelessness in Raman’s council district over the past year, according to the latest homeless count, as well as her role in championing major tenant protections.
Garcia argued that Raman remains an outsider despite having served on the City Council for nearly six years, pointing to her willingness to challenge established political interests and the people-powered movement she built during her first campaign and has continued to build.
That positioning is hardly unusual for a challenger running against an incumbent, Guerra said. Raman can also point to opposition from much of the city’s political establishment as she makes the argument that she represents change, he said.
The 60-second “Works” spot released Thursday is Raman’s broadest advertising push of the general election so far. Her campaign previously ran a limited television ad buy around the Emmy Awards, featuring a Hollywood-focused spot narrated by actor Bob Odenkirk.
The new ad is running on local broadcast television and digital platforms. The campaign said it will air during morning news broadcasts and prime-time programming including “Abbott Elementary,” “The Traitors,” “Law & Order” and “Saturday Night Live.” The campaign declined to disclose how much it is spending on the buy.
Raman’s focus on basic city services goes directly at one of the central vulnerabilities of any incumbent mayor: whether voters believe their city is working.
Guerra said the ad taps into frustration over quality-of-life issues that city government directly affects, including homelessness and city services. Although Raman never attacks Bass by name in the spot, he said, the underlying message is that “the city doesn’t work.”
Dan Schnur, veteran political analyst and a professor at USC and UC Berkeley, saw another distinction in the campaigns’ approaches. He described Raman’s message as one of “reassurance,” while Bass is trying to persuade voters to reconsider their judgment of her tenure.
Schnur said the ads suggest the campaigns are operating as though Raman is ahead, with Raman trying to consolidate support and Bass trying to change voters’ minds.
“When you’re down in the polls, you have to convince voters to reconsider their decision,” he said. “When you are ahead, you’re trying to lock them down. The Ramen ad is essentially one of reassurance. The primary message from Bass is: You need to rethink this.”
Guerra read the persuasion dynamic somewhat differently. He said Bass’ ad seeks to reassure voters by reminding them of her record of fighting for Los Angeles values, while Raman is asking voters dissatisfied with the city to embrace change.
But the messages do not necessarily appeal to separate groups of Angelenos.
Guerra said Bass is appealing to voters concerned about Trump and immigration, while Raman is trying to reach voters frustrated with the city’s performance. Some voters may feel both.
“You could be anti-Trump, pro-immigrant, and frustrated,” Guerra said. “So which one…will they go to? That’s the question of the whole election.”