Karen Bass takes Election Day swipe at Nithya Raman with embarrassing blooper reel

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass unleashed an early-morning Election Day attack on rival Nithya Raman, releasing a blooper reel highlighting her opponent’s campaign gaffes as the bitter mayoral race reached its climax.

The incumbent mayor delivered one of her final blows to City Councilmember Nithya Raman by letting Raman’s own missteps on the campaign trail speak for themselves in a Tuesday-morning post.

“Nithya has shown that she is not ready to lead a city as big and complex as Los Angeles,” Bass wrote. “Angelenos deserve a mayor with a clear vision, a proven plan, and the experience to deliver results.”

The reel opens with clips of Raman struggling to answer seemingly simple questions, including naming a police chief she admires, and claiming she was in a “fugue state” and could barely remember her mayoral debate with Karen Bass.

The reel also highlighted Raman’s praise for a policy by disgraced former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates that drew tons of rebuke from Bass and her allies for being historically insensitive to the plight of black Angelenos.

Raman has since called Gates “an abhorrent and racist police chief” and insisted she was referring specifically to his Special Order 40.

The reel also revisits a controversy over a since-deleted social media video showing Raman saying, “Only you can stop fascist liars,” alongside images of Mayor Bass and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. The video sparked backlash over concerns it portrayed police officers as targets.

Raman’s campaign insisted her remarks targeted federal immigration authorities and the Trump administration, not Bass or McDonnell, and said the video’s creator added the controversial imagery.

“Did you not vet this video or this post before it went up?” an interviewer asked Raman in the reel shared by Bass.

The reel then cuts to Bass, saying, “You’re not ready for prime time.”

Another clip shows Raman at a 2024 Sherman Oaks forum questioning whether banning homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools would protect children.

“I don’t think a kid’s gonna be safer because a tent is 500 feet away from a school,” she told the booing crowd, adding, “You know, it’s like, whatever.”

The attack from Bass also pointed at Raman’s supposed absences from city council meetings and lack of support from fellow Democratic socialist city councilmembers.

Raman fired back with her own reel of Bass, putting together clips of Bass in awkward interview moments where she was asked why problems aren’t being addressed.

“If you’re looking for accountability for the last four years, well, so are we!” Raman wrote.

Polls close in California at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

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