A televised Los Angeles mayoral debate scheduled for Wednesday was canceled after Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman withdrew from participating, drawing criticism from other candidates and concern from organizers about voter access ahead of the June 2 primary.
The forum, organized by the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs and the League of Women Voters of Greater Los Angeles, was set to air live on FOX 11 on May 13 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. It was originally expected to feature Bass, Raman, tech entrepreneur Adam Miller and housing advocate Rae Huang. Spencer Pratt declined the invitation earlier, citing a schedule conflict, organizers said.
In a statement on Monday, organizers announced the cancellation after Raman also withdrew from the debate following Bass’ earlier decision not to participate.
“On May 7, Mayor Bass withdrew from participating in the forum,” organizers said in a joint statement. “Earlier today, Councilmember Nithya Raman also withdrew, indicating she had agreed to participate in order to debate the incumbent mayor. With only two candidates remaining, the event partners have agreed not to proceed.”
The cancellation comes as civic groups warn voters are losing opportunities to hear directly from candidates.
Bass’ campaign said on Saturday that the mayor would instead be in Sacramento Wednesday seeking state funding for housing, homelessness and the Palisades fire recovery, while also discussing the city and state partnership on the Olympics and World Cup.
In the same statement, the campaign also criticized Bass’ rivals while touting the mayor’s record on homelessness, crime and infrastructure.
“The people of LA saw twice last week that Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt are not up to the job as Mayor,” campaign spokesperson Alex Stack said.
On Monday, the campaign declined additional comments and referred back to its earlier statement.
Raman’s campaign said Monday that it was “disappointed that Mayor Bass cancelled her participation in the debate.”
“We welcome opportunities for debates with all the candidates in the future,” the campaign added.
Mike Bonin, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute and a former Los Angeles city council member, said organizers discussed alternative options after the withdrawals, but with little time remaining and schedules already difficult to coordinate, ultimately determined the forum could not move forward.
“There were three different parties to the discussions — PBI, the league, and FOX 11 — and while I won’t get into the rationale of the different partners, it became clear that a televised forum without any of the three top polling candidates was not feasible,” Bonin said.
Speaking specifically for the Pat Brown Institute, Bonin added that he still believed voters would have benefited from hearing from Miller and Huang.
He noted that so far voters have had only one televised mayoral forum this election cycle—the May 6 debate hosted by KNBC Channel 4 and Telemundo’s KVEA Channel 52 featuring Bass, Raman and Pratt — whereas previous election cycles often included broader candidate fields.
Bonin also warned that last-minute candidate withdrawals could make television stations even more reluctant to host future debates at a time when shrinking audiences and newsroom budgets have already made such forums increasingly difficult to produce.
“I imagine it will make them even more reluctant now, knowing that despite the time and effort they put into something, candidates can pull out with just days remaining,” he said. “Ultimately, that’s a loss for voters.”
Miller’s campaign criticized the withdrawal and argued voters deserved more opportunities to compare candidates directly.
“My opponents in this race are refusing to debate at a time when most Los Angeles voters remain undecided,” Miller said in a statement. “Voters deserve to hear from all of the candidates and decide who they trust to lead LA. If voters can’t trust you to show up for a debate, why should they trust you’ll show up as mayor?”
Huang’s campaign framed the cancellations as part of a broader pattern of better-known candidates avoiding public engagement.
“This is the second time Mayor Bass and Councilmember Raman have backed out of a public debate forum in this very important election cycle, days before the confirmed event – a trend that demonstrates their inability to show up for the public unless it’s politically advantageous to them,” the Huang’s campaign said in a statement. “These establishment politicians continue to ‘gatekeep’ power in their small circle, denying the public the opportunity to hear from candidates critical of their poor leadership and new ideas that call for real systemic change for the working class.”