The mayor race La reaches election day with Karen Bass and Nithya Raman tied at 40% each in the final poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. Nineteen percent of likely L.A. voters were still undecided, leaving the result open as ballots are counted.
UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies
The poll put Bass and Raman in a dead heat among likely L.A. voters. That split matters now because the race is being decided today, and the undecided share is large enough to sway the outcome if it breaks in one direction.
Mindy Kaling and Karen Bass
Mindy Kaling backed Raman and said, “There’s one issue that I can speak to from experience: Keeping Hollywood jobs in Los Angeles.” She added, “Yes, it’s actors and directors, but I’m also talking about the crew, electricians, grips, hair and makeup artists, drivers, set builders, editors — and then there’s the restaurants, the dry cleaners and the small businesses that depend on productions being here.”
Kaling said, “And Nithya’s plan is to fight for that work to stay in town,” and, “She wants stronger, dependable state tax incentives, and a film office that actively works to keep production in town.” On the Bass side, Jane Fonda, Yvette Nicole Brown, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer, Samuel L. Jackson, Kym Whitley, D.L. Hughley, Dustin Lance Black, George Lopez and Stevie Wonder publicly backed Bass.
Trixie Mattel PSA
Bass also posted a video of Trixie Mattel's voting PSA to her account, but Mattel did not explicitly endorse Bass as a candidate. Jackson said, “Battling the nationwide homeless epidemic is the hardest job in American government,” and, “Karen Bass walked toward it in one day.”
Raman's backing also included Bob Odenkirk, Adam Scott, Joel Kim Booster, Caleb Hearon, Poppy Liu, P. J. Byrne, Adam Conover, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Jaboukie Young-White. Jason Oppenheim discussed the race with Raman and cross-posted it to both of their accounts, while he also interviewed her on Graham Stephan's podcast, The Iced Coffee Hour.
What happens next is the count itself, with those undecided voters likely deciding whether Bass or Raman finishes ahead. The final numbers will show whether the celebrity push in the last stretch moved enough people to break the tie.
