Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson criticized Democratic Los Angeles mayoral candidates Nithya Raman and Karen Bass, who are running against reality television personality Spencer Pratt, for doing a “terrible job.”
“Leftie mayors do a terrible job, and people are angry, and the voters decide, ‘Let’s make it worse and go further Left,’ and they might do that in Los Angeles,” Benson said on Fox News’s Gutfeld.
The candidates debated one another Wednesday in a televised forum, where Pratt, a Republican, called out both Bass — the current mayor — and City Council member Raman for not answering a yes-or-no question about whether non-citizens can vote in local elections.
Pratt immediately responded, “No,” while Raman and Bass said, “It depends.”
“Spencer Pratt was clearly the only non-politician there, because it was a yes or no question,” Benson said.
“He said ‘No,’ and they had word salads that meant ‘Yes,’” Benson said.
Benson argued that Bass and Raman are the ones who have led the city to its deterioration.
In the mayoral debate, Pratt criticized Raman’s plan to combat homelessness by putting treatment first.
“Councilwoman Raman’s plan for treatment first — I will go below the Harbor Freeway tomorrow with her, and we can find some of these people she’s going to ‘offer treatment for’ — she’s going to get stabbed in the neck,” Pratt said. “These people do not want a bed, they want fentanyl or super meth.”
In 2025, 43,695 people in the city experienced homelessness, according to a count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a 3.4% drop from the year before but still one of the highest concentrations of unhoused people in the country.
“They [Bass and Ramas] are the ones who have done this to the city,” Benson said in reference to the homelessness and drug problem. “This is not ‘happening to’ Los Angeles, it is ‘being done to’ Los Angeles by them.”
“This is a MAGA Republican’s idea of what Los Angeles looks like,” Raman fired back at Pratt.
SPENCER PRATT ROASTS KAREN BASS FOR ‘BURNING MY HOUSE’ AT LA MAYOR DEBATE
“They [Bass and Raman] can’t defend the status quo that they’ve created, so do you notice the comeback was, ‘This is a MAGA Republican?’ That’s the last thing they have left,” Benson said.
“It might work with the voters of LA, but it’s not really an argument.”