Bass and Raman make final pitches as voters prepare to decide city’s future

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman crisscrossed the city Monday in a last-minute scramble for votes, wrapping up a bruising campaign that exposed deep frustration over homelessness, public safety and the future of America’s second-largest city.

Bass told the California Post Monday morning she was feeling confident heading into Election Day, as both candidates made their final appeals to voters in a city grappling with 45,194 homeless residents, a shrinking police force and soaring living costs.

“I don’t take anything for granted, but I can tell you that I think the undecideds have begun to shift,” she said.

The mayor kicked off her day alongside Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra at Homegirl Café in Chinatown, greeting customers and employees.

“My closing message to voters is that this election is a real choice,” Bass told a group of reporters, promising to tackle homeless encampments, hire more police officers and make Los Angeles more affordable in her next four years if elected.

Raman, meanwhile, joined higher-education workers with UAW Local 4811 at UCLA, appealing to younger voters struggling to afford life in Los Angeles.

“Young people who are moving to the city who want to build their life here, who want to be able to afford to build their dreams here, and are unable to do it because we have a mayoral administration in a city hall that has ignored their needs for far too long,” Raman said.

Her campaign also organized final-day canvassing in Highland Park and Mar Vista, reporting nearly 100,000 doors knocked since the June primary.

Bass also juggled her job as mayor with the final campaign push, making stops across the city that included a meet-and-greet with former Congressman Tony Cardenas in Pacoima, a business walk through Historic Filipinotown with Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez and a ribbon-cutting for new permanent supportive housing for young people aging out of foster care.

She was scheduled to finish the evening rallying volunteers at a South Los Angeles phone bank before joining a downtown tribute to civil rights leader Dolores Huerta with organized labor.

The final sprint followed months of clashes over homelessness, LAPD staffing, the Palisades fire and City Hall accountability.

A final UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll showed the candidates tied at 40% among likely voters, with 19% undecided.

But veteran political consultant Rick Taylor, who has spent 50 years working in politics, told The Post Monday he believes Bass gained momentum in the campaign’s final stretch.

“If I were Mayor Bass, I would feel very positive right now,” Taylor said, pointing to what he described as 90,000 additional Latino votes cast this election cycle and predicting Bass would perform particularly well among Latina voters.

“I think momentum is on her side. The longer the campaign went on, the more Nithya’s lack of knowledge was an advantage to the mayor,” he said.

Still, Taylor credited Raman with tapping into voters’ frustration.

“Nithya’s message was the right message for the time,” he said. “Everyone says they want change. They don’t see it. Fresh, new, I’m going to make things better. It’s easy to say. It’s harder to do.”

Despite his assessment, Taylor cautioned against expecting a quick result.

“My prediction is we will not know who the mayor of LA is until tomorrow night,” he said.

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