Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing mounting political pressure as City Councilwoman Nithya Raman emerges as a serious left-wing challenger in the city’s mayoral race, according to new polling and reporting from Breitbart News.
A poll released by Raman’s own campaign shows the challenger leading the incumbent 44% to 39%, with 17% of voters still undecided. Hart Research Associates conducted the survey of 600 likely voters in early September, and it carries a four-point margin of error. Internal campaign polls are typically viewed with some skepticism because they are commissioned by the candidate they favor, but the numbers nonetheless suggest Bass is in an unexpectedly competitive fight.
A second survey, paid for by an outside group supporting Raman, initially showed a much tighter contest before moving in the challenger’s direction. In that poll, Bass stood at 38% and Raman at 37%. After voters were given additional information about both candidates, Raman’s lead expanded to seven points, 41% to 34%. That survey had a 3.7-point margin of error.
The Bass campaign declined to release its own internal polling, a decision that leaves the public with only the challenger’s numbers and those from an allied outside group to gauge the state of the race.
Competing Numbers From Bass’s Allies
An outside group backing the mayor pointed to a much more favorable snapshot from early August, when Bass led Raman 41% to 35% with nearly a quarter of voters undecided. That same survey found Bass ahead 45% to 33% once voters were presented with information about both candidates.
The dueling polls paint very different pictures of where the race stands, and each side is clearly trying to shape the narrative heading into the fall campaign season. What is not in dispute is that the contest is drawing significant attention and money.
Both candidates have begun spending heavily on advertising across television, streaming services, and social media, signaling that each camp views the race as winnable and worth investing in. The early ad blitz suggests the final stretch will be expensive and closely watched.
A Mamdani-Style Challenge
Raman’s rise fits a pattern that has unsettled establishment Democrats in several major cities. Like Zohran Mamdani in New York City, Raman is a left-wing challenger positioning herself against an incumbent backed by much of the party’s institutional machinery. The comparison to Mamdani, who has shaken up the New York mayoral race, has become a central frame for how observers are viewing the Los Angeles contest.
Raman released a Hollywood-themed advertisement featuring the voice of actor and screenwriter Bob Odenkirk. The commercial shows Raman visiting a taco stand and embracing a dog while presenting her as the candidate of “change” and “affordability” — two themes that have resonated in other races where insurgent candidates have taken on sitting officials.
Bass responded with a digital ad centered on the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. The commercial includes footage of Bass confronting federal agents at MacArthur Park in July 2025. “When someone comes after your family, you don’t hesitate,” Bass says in the ad. “You stand up. You fight.”
The ad signals that Bass intends to run on her record of resisting federal immigration enforcement in a city with a large immigrant population, a posture that could energize her base even as she faces pressure from her left on other issues.
A Race Still in Motion
With 17% of voters undecided in the Hart Research survey and different polls showing different leaders, the race remains fluid. The early August poll backing Bass showed nearly a quarter of voters undecided, meaning a large slice of the electorate has yet to settle on a candidate.
How those voters break could determine whether Bass holds onto the mayor’s office or whether Raman completes an upset in a city where the incumbent was widely seen as the favorite heading into the cycle. The coming weeks of advertising, debates, and campaign events will shape how Angelenos weigh the choice between an established mayor and a councilwoman arguing for a change in direction.
For now, the only public numbers favorable to Bass come from a poll conducted more than a month earlier, while the most recent data available comes from surveys tied to Raman’s campaign and her allies. That asymmetry alone has fueled the perception that the mayor is on the defensive.
The race will be closely watched nationally as a test of whether the left-wing insurgency that has reshaped several Democratic primaries can translate into victory in one of the country’s largest cities.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/09/19/karen-bass-in-trouble-as-left-wing-challenger-surges-in-los-angeles-mayors-race/