Poll Yourselves Together

Mike, David, and Liz weigh the progressive divide in the last days of the mayor’s race, the latest polls which show a Karen Bass-Nithya Raman-Spencer Pratt dead heat, and the AI-assisted rise of Pratt. Plus, some reforms are on the way for Measure ULA and voters are being asked to tax themselves with Measure ER to stop catastrophic cuts to the County's healthcare system. In the final days of the mayoral primary, a new LA Times poll shows a tight three-way race between Mayor Karen Bass, Councilmember Nithya Raman, and Spencer Pratt. Meanwhile, the CA Post poll shows Pratt in the lead Many lefty voters are wrestling up to the last minute with a decision over voting for Raman or Haung. Huang has been sharply critical of Raman and publicly rebuffed overtures from the Raman camp Meanwhile, Liz’s reporting shows that Huang’s claims to have qualified for public matching funds were not accurate, leading some voters to feel they were misled about her viability Just days ago, Knock LA revised its lefty voter guide, going from a Huang-only rec to a dual rec for Raman and Huang Mike wrote about how Pratt’s mastery of public storytelling is resonating beyond Republicans. Pratt’s candidacy has also drawn sharp commentary from Jimmy Kimmel, and has some wondering if TMZ is now becoming a force in political journalism The weekend featured a bevy of stories analyzing the race. The LA Times looks at the fraying of the establishment Democratic coalition Tom Bradley forged. The Guardian meanwhile, framed the state’s races as the “most turbulent election in years” CalMatters reports that big money is pouring into the governor’s race. One of the biggest issues recently has been Chevron’s spending on behalf of frontrunner Xavier Becerra After months of Democrats worrying they might get shut out of the gubernatorial runoff, there is a slim chance it could be a Democrat vs Democrat race after all On Friday, an ad hoc council committee chaired by CM Jurado recommended that the City directly enact legislative reforms to Measure ULA and refrain from placing a major overhaul on the November ballot. The rec drew cheers from ULA supporters and jeers from groups who want sweeping changes to ULA This comes as California voters will be asked this fall to repeal ULA entirely, as part of a Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association prop that would sharply curtail the ability of cities to raise revenue and roll back local taxes across the state.  Voters will also have a chance to thwart the Jarvis measure thanks to ACA 13, which would require any ballo