LA mayoral election tipped a ‘close’ race as Dems allowed anti-social behaviour to ‘run rampant’

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Yes, so what do you make of what's likely to happen between now and November? What does this look like ahead of the midterms?

[00:00:09]Well, I think look I I think first and foremost we've got to have an outcome that's a success for the United States and for the world in the Middle East.

[00:00:18]And I think part of the problem right now is that the average American doesn't fully know what victory in the Middle East looks like. And I President Trump's a master negotiator and keeping the Iranians on their toes is good for international diplomacy, but the American people don't know what victory looks like. So what when if and when we declare victory, I don't know that President Trump's going to get his big a bump as maybe he deserves if he's able to get us out of there with with minimal casualties and and with the with his goals his goals met. So in the states it's it's a full-on push on the economy between now and election day. We've got to find a way to stabilize these gas prices and bring those prices back down and address the you know rising cost of groceries and just kind of the general cost that's you know hurting everyday Americans when they go out and they buy. Inflation's through the roof. Yeah, and that is so important. Let's turn to California. In less than a month the LA mayoral election will be held on June 2nd. This is going to be really interesting to watch. It's already starting to heat up.

[00:01:23]Of course, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt is gaining a lot of momentum as he runs as an independent against Karen Bass. And a big part of his campaign is certainly taking aim at Karen Bass and her handling of the the wildfires in January last year. I want to get your insights on how this is likely to go and also the news that Kamala Harris has formally endorsed Karen Bass for re-election. Kamala Harris said, "Mayor Karen Bass is the leader Los Angeles needs right now." How helpful is this endorsement?

[00:01:58]I'm not sure how much the Kamala Harris endorsement helps anybody these days.

[00:02:01]She was a failure as a candidate and she certainly doesn't have a lot of love lost among the Democratic base. But look, I mean Los Angeles is an extremely liberal city and it's an extremely liberal electorate [snorts] right now. The folks on the left are highly energized. But what we see in cities across the country is that you know generations of failed liberal leadership is starting to catch up. And certainly candidates like like Pratt who are approaching this from an independent perspective and are speaking truth to power, you know, they're resonating with folks because the antisocial behavior that liberals have allowed to run rampant in our cities, it's just it's it's it's unacceptable.

[00:02:42]And you know, this may not be the political moment here in a month or so for someone to unseat a fairly you know, well-known incumbent Democrat in a city as liberal as Los Angeles. But I think it's going to be a lot closer than people people think because both parties are just fed up with the establishment. And there's no one that says more that that is more establishment than Karen Bass. And you know, an endorsement from someone like Kamala Harris only further reinforces that to folks who think that both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party have failed them over the years in a city like Los Angeles.

[00:03:13]No, well said. I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, seeing that endorsement kind of makes you laugh, doesn't it?

[00:03:17]Karen Bass and and Kamala Harris. Well, Democrats are not all that happy with Kamala Harris as she keeps teasing running again in 2028.

[00:03:26]Republicans are saying go for it. Please do it. Uh but Kamala Harris Harris would say some Democrats have suggested that Kamala actually picked the wrong race and that she should have been really settled for being governor of California. So Matt Bennett, who's a co-founder and executive vice president for the center-left group Third Way, told the New York Times that it's conceivable that she could craft a message, meaning Kamala Harris, but she has a lot of explaining to do.

[00:03:52]Look, what do you make of this that Democrats are not all that happy about her re-election?

[00:03:58]Potential re-election. Her potential run for re-election.

[00:04:01]>> [laughter] >> Potential run. But I mean, Kamala Harris hasn't won an election since she was running for Senate in in California before she was the vice presidential nominee for for Joe Biden.

[00:04:14]She's a pretty poor campaigner and poor candidate. So it's not really a surprise to me that she would forego what at the time looked to be a really competitive campaign for for California governor.

[00:04:25]Obviously, we've seen some stumbles on the Democratic side there and that race was probably way more winnable for her than than she probably thought when she was first looking at it. But this is someone who got you know, two 3% in the in the primary and was picked by Joe Biden because he promised voters that he was going to you know, put an African-American woman on the ticket and there just weren't a ton of those in the leadership of the Democratic Party at the time. But yeah, there's a lot of bad blood there. I mean, from the way that she talked about you know, folks on the Biden team and in the party establishment, you know, on her book tour to the over 22 million dollars in debt that she left the DNC with after a billion-dollar you know, campaign where you know, I think a lot of folks were parsing through those numbers and wondering you know, how well spent was the this absolutely massive investment that that donors made into her race. And you know, if the Democrats underperform in November, a key part of that calculus is going to be the financial hole that that Kamala Harris left the party in.

[00:05:28]You know, if that's one of the few checks in the box for Republicans right now is just that they have a massive cash on hand advantage because they were way more way more conservative with with their resources when it came to when it came to the election season in 2024.

[00:05:43]Yeah, but it's interesting cuz from the polling that I've seen, there seems to be a fair bit of support for for Kamala Harris. So if she was to run again in 2028, you kind of look at the two frontrunners with the Democrats and it's Kamala Harris and and Gavin Newsom. What's your prediction around these two and what's likely to happen come 2028?

[00:06:03]I just both of them are going to start with an advantage because those are the only two Democratic candidates that have any sort of national presence. Kamala Harris having been the Democratic nominee, should a majority of folks know who she is and and that's always an advantage when you're this far out from the election. And certainly Gavin Newsom has been all over the news as well. But I just think both of those leaders represent you know, a segment of the Democratic Party that I think is really out of touch and deeply unpopular with the average American. And I just I find it highly unlikely that if and when voters are going to the polls ahead of 2028, that either of those candidates are going to capture what I think is a real kind of populist anger and resentment in both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party and and two out of touch California establishment politicians. I mean, my goodness, Republicans could be so lucky as to run against either one of those candidates.

[00:06:57]I just I don't I don't think I don't think we're going to get that lucky. Um but you know, I've been wrong before. We saw Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. So Well, it's important to me know Californians, no Gavin Newsom, no Kamala Harris. And then of course, we've we've spoken about Karen Bass on this program as well. Very interesting to get your insights there, Nick Weinstein, Signal Principal and Pollster. Thank you so much.

[00:07:20]Yeah, my pleasure.