It's Bass versus Raman, officially — and the half-billion-dollar question the council just answered is suddenly the campaign's whole ballgame. If you're just joining: Karen Bass led the June primary, but the suspense was who'd face her in November. Late ballots pushed Councilmember Nithya Raman past Spencer Pratt, setting up a left-versus-left runoff where homelessness, housing, budgets, policing, and progressive organizing are the fault lines. Reporting has also framed Raman and city attorney candidate Marissa Roy as DSA members, which matters because wins by both could put the mayor's agenda and City Hall's legal posture on the same track. This is LA Mayor 2026. Certification's done, the money's been allocated, and there's a federal lawsuit on the table — so today, we stop teeing up questions and start asking where these two actually stand. If you want to keep up with Bass-Raman runoff, tap follow so the next episode lands in your feed. LAist, with Libby Rainey:
Los Angeles and Orange counties have certified the results of the June 2 primary, officially ending the vote count. In Los Angeles, more than 2,227,000 people cast ballots — approximately 38% of the registered voters in the county. In Orange County, more than 809,000 people cast ballots for a turnout of around 42%.
It's official — LA and Orange counties certified the June 2 primary. The Bass-Raman runoff we left hanging on late ballots is now a live general election. And the number that jumps out at me: 2.2 million ballots in LA County, about 38% of registered voters. That's the electorate that locked in a Bass-Raman runoff — barely four in ten people showing up. Right, and certification closes the procedural chapter. No fraud finding, no recount drama — the count is the count. So the excuse to keep circling setup questions is gone. Bass and Raman are head-to-head now. The clock started today. If either camp was waiting for a clean official close before staking out positions — congratulations, you got it. And the competitive stuff isn't only at the top of the ticket — there's CD 9, Ugarte versus Mazariegos to replace Curren Price. The council fights are where district power gets decided. Here's Los Angeles Times:
The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved a plan to spend $544.3 million collected from Measure ULA, the so-called "mansion tax" that levies a transfer tax on L.A. property sales above $5.3 million. The spending plan, set to be doled out during the 2026 fiscal year, is the largest allocation of Measure ULA funds so far — roughly 28% higher than last year's budget.
The horse-race week is over. The council just approved $544.3 million in ULA spending — $381 million for affordable housing, $163 million for homelessness prevention. That's a policy record voters can grade in November, not just a debate answer. And it's 28% bigger than last year's allocation. So the question gets concrete: does Bass defend that split? Does Raman? The money's allocated now. There are actual line items. And it almost wasn't here at all. Howard Jarvis had a measure teed up to cap transfer taxes at 0.11% and gut the whole thing on the November ballot — until Sacramento cut a deal Wednesday to keep it intact. Right — and look at that two-thirds threshold they wanted to attach. That's the part that should scare anyone planning to fund housing through the ballot. Moving from a simple majority to two-thirds retroactively kills a lot of math. So now that the count is certified, City Hall is moving real November money. Bass is both incumbent and candidate here. What's her posture on a half-billion-dollar spend her own council just passed? That's the one I want answered. The deed-restricted share, the production-versus-prevention split — those are choices. Silence on $544 million isn't neutral anymore. This one's from Paulasplund:
On June 11, the day the FIFA World Cup opened in Los Angeles, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended all federal funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The letter, sent to LAHSA board chair Wendy Greuel and CEO Gita O'Neill, accused the agency of "wanton mismanagement" and a "clear pattern of fraud," and gave LAHSA 30 days to request a hearing or see the suspension become permanent.
HUD suspended LAHSA's funding on June 11 — the day the World Cup opened in LA. Suspended the whole pass-through, almost $200 million a year, accused the agency of a 'clear pattern of fraud,' and gave it 30 days. And remember, LAHSA was already staring down a $125 million shortfall before any of this hit. So the agency that runs the shelter-bed math for the entire county is now suing the federal government to stay solvent. Every plan either candidate has floated runs through LAHSA, and LAHSA's main funding channel is frozen and in litigation. Right, and this is the jurisdictional friction I keep harping on — how much of homelessness policy is actually in the mayor's hands? Turns out, a chunk of it is sitting in a HUD letter to Wendy Greuel and Gita O'Neill. And the timing was a message. Encampments near the fan zones drawing international cameras, and Washington picks that exact moment to pull the money. Neither Bass nor Raman has costed out a single shelter promise against a LAHSA that might lose $200 million. Here's Kavish Harjai at LAist:
Los Angeles city property owners voted down a fee increase that sought to address a massive backlog of streetlight repairs. The L.A. city clerk certified the results Wednesday: Just under 80% of the weighted votes cast rejected the idea. The city sent ballots to owners of more than 580,000 public, commercial and private parcels in April.
Just under 80% of weighted votes said no to a streetlight fee. The city hit a wall. And this was a small-dollar assessment meant to fix a repair backlog. If property owners won't fund the streetlights they can see burned out on their own block, that says a lot about every fee-based capital tool a mayor wants to reach for. And it's landing in the same season as a ULA rewrite, a fire tax, and a state housing bond all pointed at November. Voters are getting asked to open their wallets at every turn, and they just gave one of those asks an 80% rejection. Right — and the $544 million ULA spend we just talked about? That money's already collected. The streetlight fee was the city asking for new money. Voters distinguish between those, and that distinction is the whole game for whoever's mayor. Bass announced a 60,000-streetlight solar transition back in March. Hard to power that vision when owners won't even cover the repair backlog on the lights that already exist. Got thoughts on the race, a story idea we should chase, or a correction? Send us a note anytime at lamayor2026 at lantern podcasts dot com. We do read what comes in.
Next up: statewide results are scheduled to be final by July 10, and LAHSA has 30 days from HUD's June 11 suspension letter to request a hearing.
You'll find links to every story we covered today in the show notes, so if something caught your ear, that's the place to keep reading.
That's LA Mayor 2026 for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.