Karen Bass Leads Los Angeles Mayoral Runoff Amid Campaign Shakeup and Fraud Allegations

Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass remains the favorite to win the November 3 Los Angeles mayoral runoff, despite a late‑campaign change that saw veteran strategist Julie Chávez Rodriguez replace longtime adviser Douglas Herman as campaign manager. Bass entered the runoff against City Councilmember Nithya Raman after finishing first in the June primary with about one‑third of the vote, and poll aggregators give her a roughly 62‑63% chance of victory.

During the 2026 campaign, Bass has faced a series of fraud‑related headlines. Federal prosecutors charged a private developer with a $26 million scheme involving false records for homelessness housing projects, prompting Bass to stress that the city had no role in the developer’s bookkeeping. Separate federal charges targeted an affordable‑housing nonprofit’s former finance chief, which Bass framed as evidence of outside corruption. The Trump administration also suspended federal grants to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority over alleged mismanagement, a move Bass said would slow housing placements. Additional controversy arose from viral videos suggesting vote‑buying on Skid Row, which city officials dismissed as misinformation, and from disputed ballot‑drop reporting that critics claimed masked irregularities, though election staff explained staggered result releases.