2026 Los Angeles mayoral election
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Los Angeles Political Event Draws Reaction Over Debate Exchange
Zohran Mamdani is a DSA-backed socialist politician who won his mayoral race in New York City last year.
Graham Platner dropped out of the U.S. Senate race in Maine in July following multiple sexual misconduct allegations.
Nithya Raman secured a position on the November mayoral ballot after narrowly defeating Republican candidate Spencer Pratt.
“I’ve retained most of my good campaign staff … we’ve made sure to invest in our team, and I hope that we can win this seat, and I’m going to work as hard as I can to win.”
Karen Bass criticized over taxpayer-funded campaign donation matching
The current 6-to-1 match took effect in 2019
To qualify for matching funds, a candidate must have raised 300 times the maximum matchable amount per contributor of $257, have at least 100 donors who contributed $5 or more and live in Los Angeles, have an opponent, and hold at least one public town hall or debate
Trump administration official Richard Grenell called the program "outrageous"
“Thanks to LA's super match program, every qualified donation from Los Angeles residents is matched 6-to-1 by the city. But after the primary, we had to start over from scratch, so we need you to rush your matching donation right now to help fuel this campaign.”
Karen Bass criticized after viral video on taxpayer-funded campaign donations
The current 6-to-1 match took effect in 2019 and has been in use since then.
Bass said a $5 donation would equate to a $35 total donation, and $25 would become $175 under the matching program.
Author and University of Austin professor Michael Shellenberger called the program 'grotesque' in response to Bass's video.
“Thanks to LA's super match program, every qualified donation from Los Angeles residents is matched 6-to-1 by the city. But after the primary, we had to start over from scratch, so we need you to rush your matching donation right now to help fuel this campaign.”