Organizers on Monday canceled a televised forum for Los Angeles mayoral candidates after City Councilmember Nithya Raman dropped out, which meant all three of the leading candidates would be no-shows.
Mayor Karen Bass originally committed to the forum but dropped out last week, saying she would instead travel to Sacramento to lobby state officials for funding on a variety of issues including homelessness and the Palisades fire recovery. Raman then canceled on Monday, with her campaign saying her main reason to attend the forum was to debate Bass.
“We’re disappointed that Mayor Bass canceled her participation in the debate. We welcome opportunities to debate all the candidates in the future,” said Jeff Millman, a spokesperson for Raman’s campaign.
The third leading candidate, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, had earlier declined the invitation to appear, citing a scheduling conflict. That would have left just two candidates, community activist Rae Huang and tech entrepreneur Adam Miller.
“With only two candidates remaining, the event partners have agreed not to proceed,” said an email sent out Monday by the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, which was co-sponsoring the event with the League of Women Voters. The debate had been set to be televised on Fox 11.
Wednesday’s forum was expected to be the last featuring leading candidates for mayor before the June 2 primary.
Raman and Bass spent two nights last week debating each other. First they went against each other one on one on Tuesday in front of the Sherman Oaks Homeowner’s Assn.
They went at it again the following evening in a debate aired by NBC at the Skirball Cultural Center, this time joined by Pratt.
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