Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Oct 15, 2026 · 54 min · 18 segments
Plus, LA’s mayoral candidates try to appeal to the large chunk of undecided voters, the state warns LAUSD it may take over the district if it can’t balance its budget, and fall book recommendations.
Madeleine BrandHost
Tanya Ortiz-FranklinGuest
Mike BoninGuestBoris KachkaGuestJumana KhatibGuestChristopher ReynoldsGuest
Moments from last night's Los Angeles mayoral debate between incumbent Karen Bass and her challenger city council member Nithya Raman.
Raman focused on Bass's record in office, invoking that famous question Ronald Reagan asked about Jimmy Carter's presidency yesterday.
Both candidates had a lot to gain and lose, with many Angelenos still undecided.
Mike Bonin is a former L.A. City Council member and executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A.
So polls show Rahman ahead, but that at least at least a third of voters are still undecided.
Well, you know, both candidates did, I think, what their campaigns wanted and delivered the lines they wanted and made the hits they wanted.
Bass's campaign wanted to say you're not ready for primetime, and they wanted to say that Rahman is not trusted by her colleagues and is unreliable and is a risk.
Raman's campaign really wanted to raise the issue of are you better off than you were four years ago? And she wanted to sort of put a more aspirational spin on her campaign and what voters are considering.
And both of them did that, and that was their way of trying to get to those undecided voters.
But what that forgets, though, is that each candidate wants to make the campaign about the other candidate, a referendum on them.
But the voters want the campaign to be about them and make it a referendum on them.
And I think on that score, I think Rahman did a better job in talking to voters and about voters than the mayor did.
And I think the moderators did a good job of bringing up all four of those things.
Moments from last night's Los Angeles mayoral debate between incumbent Karen Bass and her challenger city council member Nithya Raman.
Raman focused on Bass's record in office, invoking that famous question Ronald Reagan asked about Jimmy Carter's presidency yesterday.
Both candidates had a lot to gain and lose, with many Angelenos still undecided.
Mike Bonin is a former L.A. City Council member and executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A.
So polls show Rahman ahead, but that at least at least a third of voters are still undecided.
Well, you know, both candidates did, I think, what their campaigns wanted and delivered the lines they wanted and made the hits they wanted.
Bass's campaign wanted to say you're not ready for primetime, and they wanted to say that Rahman is not trusted by her colleagues and is unreliable and is a risk.
Raman's campaign really wanted to raise the issue of are you better off than you were four years ago? And she wanted to sort of put a more aspirational spin on her campaign and what voters are considering.
And both of them did that, and that was their way of trying to get to those undecided voters.
But what that forgets, though, is that each candidate wants to make the campaign about the other candidate, a referendum on them.
But the voters want the campaign to be about them and make it a referendum on them.
And I think on that score, I think Rahman did a better job in talking to voters and about voters than the mayor did.
And I think the moderators did a good job of bringing up all four of those things.
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