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WATCH: Left-wing LA mayor faces reality TV challenger’s blunt takedowns in heated mayoral debate
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Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Republican challenger Spencer Pratt, and Democratic Socialists of America-aligned city councilwoman Nithya Raman squared off in a heated nonpartisan debate on Wednesday as the city heads toward its June 2 mayoral primary.
The debate, hosted by NBC4 and Telemundo 52, centered on questions of public safety, affordability and immigration. Conservative commentators on social media, as well as some on the left, generally felt that Pratt exceeded expectations as he jumps into politics following his history as a reality star on «The Hills.»
Fox News Digital took a look back at the top moments of the debate, including Bass confronting top issues such as the Palisades fires that tore through Southern California in 2025.
CALIFORNIA MAYOR WANTS TO GIVE HOMELESS PEOPLE ‘ALL THE FENTANYL THEY WANT’: ‘NEED TO PURGE THESE PEOPLE’
Former reality television star Spencer Pratt is running against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to lead the second-largest city in the country. (Left (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images), Right (Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images))
‘Stabbed in the neck’
«First off, Inside Safe, I like to say Inside Safe makes all of us outside, unsafe,» Pratt said near the midpoint of the debate.
Inside Safe is a municipal program spearheaded by Bass intended to take people out of homeless encampments and bring them into temporary or permanent indoor housing. A city report found that it spent $300 million on the project, which assisted roughly 6,000 people, 40% of whom have since ended up back on the streets.
«The reality is, no matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth,» Pratt continued. «They are on fentanyl. The DEA statistic says 93% of this is a drug addiction problem. I will go below the Harbor Freeway tomorrow with [Raman] and we can find some of these people she’s going to offer treatment for. She’s going to get stabbed in the neck.»
LA-AREA MAYORS PLEAD WITH TRUMP ADMIN TO STOP ICE IMMIGRATION ARRESTS
Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman talks with Mayor Karen Bass at Hazeltine Park in Sherman Oaks on Feb. 10, 2024, before a campaign event. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
‘This is a yes or no question’
Near the end of the debate, moderator Enrique Chiabra asked the three candidates a straightforward question.
«I want to ask you all three if this is a yes or no question and answer,» Chiabra said. «So there’s an LA council member. He wants voters to decide. He is saying that non-citizens, should they be allowed to vote in local elections. Is this a yes or no, Mr. Pratt?»
LA MAYOR BASS PROVIDES CASH PAYMENTS TO ILLEGALS, ISSUES ORDER TO THWART IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman attends National Coming Out Day 2024 in Los Angeles, California, on Oct. 11, 2024. (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images)
Pratt answered in a single word: «No.»
Bass gave a longer answer, differentiating between green card holders and illegal immigrants, pointing out that some cities allow the former category to vote in local elections.
Raman, meanwhile, gave an answer that a Los Angeles Times columnist described as «tongue-tied.»
«Yeah, I would say again, it does depend in other places, school boards have non-citizens, non-citizens who are residents who vote for these,» she began to say, before a moderator cut her off.
‘The most dangerous thing that the mayor put us up against’
Early in the debate, Pratt took a jab at Bass over her handling of the January 2025 Pacific Palisades fires.
«To the mayor, Karen Bass, the thousand firefighters that were available, but there [were] no engines for them because of the $17 million that Chief Crowley had asked the mayor for nine weeks before, and Mayor Karen Bass denied it,» Pratt said. «Not to mention Janisse Quinones, who Mayor Karen Bass put into a position of power at the LA DWP. She drained both of these reservoirs that these firefighters needed to put out these fires.»
SPENCER PRATT ENLISTS SEN. RICK SCOTT FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE RESPONSE
TV personality and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt visits Fox & Friends at Fox News Channel Studios in New York City on Jan. 28, 2026. (Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
Pratt called Bass’ conduct in the lead-up to the fires «the most dangerous thing that the mayor put us up against.»
‘Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together’
Raman, who has been struggling to break through in the polls, accused Bass and Pratt during the debate of working together to block her out of the general election.
«You’re going to watch today as Mayor Bass and Spencer Pratt attack me because they want to run against each other in the general election,» Raman said, directly addressing debate viewers.
«First off, Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together,» Pratt responded. «I blame this person for burning my house and my parents house and my town and all my neighbors down.»
RESIDENTS IN EXCLUSIVE ENCLAVE DEMAND DEM MAYOR ACT ON CRIME SURGE
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said «it depends» when asked whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote in local elections. (Getty Images)
He went on to point out that Bass’ strong relationship with labor unions and her status as incumbent mayor made her a stronger opponent than Raman, in his view.
Pratt concluded his statement by dismissing Raman as a «random council member.»
‘Public safety should be our number one priority’
As the debate shifted to public safety, Pratt took an opportunity to slam Raman for historically advocating for decreased police funding.
«Councilwoman Raman keeps saying that the police department is over funded public safety – should be our number one priority,» he said. «And we’re going to find all this money when we stop her useless open bed plans. That actually doesn’t put drug addicts in these housing, that we’re spending billions of dollars, and we’re going to actually start checking where this money is going.»
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Pratt proposed providing more resources to the Los Angeles Police Department to ultimately build the force to 12,500 officers.
los angeles, local, blue city crime, republicans, homeless crisis
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African and Caribbean leaders call for payments, debt cancellation, formal apologies over slavery
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African and Caribbean leaders are demanding financial compensation, debt cancellation and formal apologies from countries that benefited from the transatlantic slave trade after adopting a sweeping reparations plan at a conference in Ghana.
The 19-point framework calls for financial compensation, debt relief, a Global Reparations Fund and the return of looted cultural artifacts and ancestral remains. It also seeks reforms to international financial institutions that supporters say disadvantage Third World countries.
The proposal is expected to be presented at the next UN General Assembly as African and Caribbean nations step up a coordinated push for slavery reparations.
The plan was adopted Friday by the African Union and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Reparatory Justice at the end of a three-day conference.
REPARATIONS ADVOCATES PUSH FOR PAYMENTS TO BLACK AMERICANS DESPITE BUDGET AND LEGAL CHALLENGES
John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, and other dignitaries attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
«None of us gathered in this hall today can be held personally responsible for the atrocities of the transatlantic slave trade,» Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama told delegates.
«History does not ask us to inherit guilt, but it asks us to inherit responsibility,» Mahama added.
The proposal does not identify specific countries that should provide compensation or issue formal apologies.
TULSA MAYOR PROPOSES $100M REPARATIONS PLAN FOR DESCENDANTS OF 1921 TULSA RACE MASSACRE
John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, lays a wreath at Christiansborg Castle in Accra during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans on Friday. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
It does call for debt cancellation, climate justice financing, expanded citizenship pathways for Africans in the diaspora and what organizers describe as a «right of return» for descendants of enslaved Africans.
The plan also urges African countries to preserve former slave forts and castles as memorial sites.
According to advocates, at least 12.5 million Africans were kidnapped and transported aboard European ships between the 15th and 19th centuries. Supporters of reparations argue the effects of slavery continue to be felt across Africa and the Caribbean generations later.
UN COURT RULES WEALTHY NATIONS PAY UP FOR CLIMATE CHANGE DAMAGES IN CONTROVERSIAL GLOBAL RULING
President John Dramani Mahama and Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa host a high-level consultative conference on the next steps following the United Nations resolution on trafficking of enslaved Africans in Accra, Ghana, on Thursday. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
The conference follows a UN vote in March recognizing transatlantic slavery as the «gravest crime against humanity.»
The resolution passed with 123 votes in favor, but the U.S., Israel and 52 other countries either voted against it or abstained.
According to Reuters, the United States and European Union raised concerns that the resolution could be interpreted as creating a hierarchy among crimes against humanity by treating some atrocities as more serious than others.
MACRON TAKES THE STAGE UNINVITED AT AFRICA SUMMIT TO SCOLD CROWD FOR ‘TOTAL LACK OF RESPECT’
John Dramani Mahama, president of Ghana, Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Ghana’s foreign affairs minister, attend a wreath-laying event at Christiansborg Castle in Accra, Ghana, Friday, during a high-level conference on the United Nations resolution addressing the trafficking of enslaved Africans. (Ernest Ankomah/Getty Images)
Heads of state from Namibia, Liberia, Senegal, Barbados and Sao Tome and Principe attended the conference, along with senior officials from several other countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the gathering virtually from the Élysée Palace, where he acknowledged the suffering caused by slavery.
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Enslaved people were «torn from their homelands, deported, dehumanised, and treated as goods,» Macron said.
Macron also said reparations should not be viewed «as an end point, or a cheque written to bring the story to a close.»
The conference in Ghana brought together separate reparations efforts previously pursued by African and Caribbean nations into a single document that organizers plan to take before the United Nations.
Reuters contributed to this report.
africa, united nations, caribbean, heritage, general assembly, world
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Former Olympian among those charged with vandalizing Reflecting Pool; Trump says basin must be drained: report
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Multiple people have been arrested this weekend after allegedly vandalizing the newly refurbished Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, prompting a strong response from President Donald Trump and an increase in security at the site.
In a statement on Truth Social Saturday night, Trump announced «many additional people» have been arrested after suspects «took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.»
The president also alleged suspects «poured corrosive and destructive chemicals» into the basin.
«It hasn’t looked or worked like this since 1922, when it was originally built, but even then, it leaked badly, and didn’t work,» Trump wrote in the post. «Ours worked perfectly, including the mirror like finish, perfectly reflecting the two Great Monuments, which it never had before! What these terrible Vandals have done is a true affront to both Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and should be dealt with accordingly.»
TRUMP SAYS VANDALS USED CHEMICALS TO DAMAGE NEWLY RENOVATED REFLECTING POOL NEAR LINCOLN MEMORIAL
National Park Service employees and contractors use vacuums to remove green algae from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Thursday, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump said administration officials met with contractors Saturday and will likely need to drain «much of the water» in order to do the necessary repairs.
It is unclear if the contractors mentioned are the same ones initially employed to carry out the renovations.
«[We] will have them done as quickly as possible,» the president wrote. «What they have damaged does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it.
«… The Reflecting Pool was never so beautiful as it was just one week ago, even going back to 1922 when it opened. We are very proud of what we have done with this magnificent structure, and we will get it repaired, quickly, to an equal level of Beauty.»
The announcement came as the administration faces scrutiny over peeling paint and algae growth just weeks after a $14.8 million restoration project was completed.
While Trump did not specify who was responsible for the alleged gash in the lining and subsequent peeling, multiple arrests were documented over the weekend by local reporters.
Paint peels from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)
TRUMP TAKES MOTORCADE INTO REFLECTING POOL, BLASTS PAST ‘$38M DISASTER’ FIX UNDER OBAMA
Journalist Emily Miller posted a two-minute video on X Friday showing a man in lime green racing gear questioning a National Guardsman before being handcuffed by U.S. Park Police.
The Washington Post later identified the man in Miller’s video as David Hearn, 67, a three-time Olympian who was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of destruction of government property.
Hearn told the outlet he had just finished a 52-mile bike ride when he noticed a «partially detached piece» of the new pool liner and «reached into the water to see what it felt like.»
The Bethesda, Maryland, native told The Associated Press he owned a company that made composite used to build watercraft.
Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn was arrested after allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. (David Madison/Getty Images, File)
While Miller claimed in her post that Hearn «grabbed» a hose that National Park Service workers were using to remediate algae growth, Hearn told The Washington Post the hose «may» only have been touched by his bike tire.
«I didn’t vandalize anything,» Hearn told the outlet.
Hearn, who was arrested in 1996 on charges of canoeing on the Potomac River but later had them dropped, said, «I didn’t destroy, break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was happening, I was already being handcuffed.»
National Guard members walk past a National Park Service employee using a vacuum to clean the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Friday, in Washington. D.C. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Miller reported that seven people were detained Friday and five people were detained Saturday in separate incidents, which has led to a major security surge.
In an earlier Truth Social post Saturday, Trump questioned, «Who would do such a thing?»
«These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments,» the president wrote. «Years in jail! Work will begin immediately on its repair.»
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The White House, U.S. Park Police and Miller did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Sinkewicz contributed to this report.
vandalism, national guard, white house, parks, donald trump, police and law enforcement, washington dc
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