Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and her challenger Nithya Raman sped through the city over the weekend, looking for votes as the clock ticked down before Tuesday’s election.
The former allies, now rivals, traded veiled jabs at each other Sunday morning as they each attended multiple campaign events, church services and other events.
Bass’s first stop on Sunday morning was a South Los Angeles coffeehouse, where she spoke with alumni of the Holy Nine, a group of historically black fraternities and sororities. She then became a sensation on KBLA radio.
“You know who I am. I’m the same as before,” said Bass, whose ancestral home is South Los Angeles and where she was a community organizer in her youth. “No matter what position I hold, this community — my community — is always front and center in what I do.”
Woodrow Bailey is a 63-year-old USC graduate and member of Phi Beta Sigma. He said he got to know Bass in the 1990s when she was working at her nonprofit Community Alliance on the street where the South Los Angeles cafe now stands. His long relationship with Bass gave him confidence in her leadership abilities
“I understand what she’s trying to accomplish here,” Bailey said.
After the event, Bass attended mass at four churches and a Sikh temple. She also plans to vote on Sunday.
Laman started his day at Mission Dolores Catholic Church in Boyle Heights. The Lineage fire destroyed a large refrigerated food storage facility and sent toxic smoke into the heavily Hispanic neighborhood, where the congressman spent a lot of time in Boyle Heights.
Rahman attended the 9 a.m. Mass, then chatted with parishioners in English and Spanish and picked up food from a taco stand set up in the church courtyard. Children splashed in the fountain and played football as the mayoral candidates introduced themselves to voters.
“My calendar is so full. I’m actually afraid to look at it,” Laman told reporters outside the church, before noting that she was going to Northridge to canvass and attend a Day of the Dead event in Canoga Park. The council member added that she took a short break at noon to attend her twins’ 11th birthday bowling party.
“Los Angeles is depressed and I’m going to make a difference,” Raman said. “I brought that sense of urgency to services in my district. I reduced homelessness. I addressed the issues residents brought to me, and I hope to bring the same responsiveness and urgency to every neighborhood in Los Angeles.”
The campaign released final fundraising numbers last week ahead of Election Day. Bass has raised a total of just over $5.4 million so far, while Raman has raised $2.7 million.
In the last period, between October 18 and 28, Bass reported raising $139,737.28, while Raman raised $122,498.83.
Bass and Raman were locked in a stalemate, with a final poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Government co-sponsored by The Times finding that 40 percent of likely Los Angeles voters said they supported Raman, while 40 percent backed Bass. But 19% remain undecided.
Times data and graphics reporter Sandhya Kambhampati contributed to this report.