In the Pacific Palisades, where homeowners often blame incumbent Mayor Karen Bass for their devastating losses from the 2025 fire, a surprising answer came up over and over again as we polled exiting voters on their vote for Los Angeles Mayor: Karen Bass.
asserted
we → blame → Mayor
“I did vote for the current mayor, which in my personal circles has been very complex,” explained Lexi Montee, who lost her home in the Palisades Fire.
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who → vote → Fire
“It’s a very progressive, intellectual circle of people who I think are hoping for change.
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I → ’ → change
But I think that sometimes reality is different and you can’t be dogmatic about your beliefs.
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you → think → beliefs
You have to be more pragmatic and realistic,” she added.
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she → have → ?
Montee said the upcoming Olympics also played a factor.
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Olympics → say → factor
“And at this delicate time, in the face of other big things happening, it doesn’t feel like the right time to change that,” she told The Post.
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she → happen → Post
“I do believe she’s learned her lesson, and she’s been giving us some grace and perhaps guilt.
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she → believe → grace
She’s shown up for us.”
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She → show → us
Maria Demina, a pianist who is also rebuilding, seconded that Bass likely learned her lesson.
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Bass → rebuild → lesson
“I hope that she knows how to deal with it,” Demina said.
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Demina → hope → it
And with Nithya Raman, “there are certain things that concern me.
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that → be → me
I don’t know what to make out of them.
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I → know → them
And maybe a little too much of extreme, statements that are made by DSA.
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that → make → DSA
And because she goes alongside with their policy. …
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she → go → policy
I just want a little bit more calm, a little bit more methodical moving forward rather than extreme moves.”
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I → want → calm
Joe Cilic, a real estate broker in the Palisades, described his mayoral vote as a difficult decision.
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Cilic → describe → decision
“Given that I partially blame [Bass] for the fires, I never saw myself voting for her, but the alternative was something worse,” he explained.
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he → give → her
“I think that Nithya Rahman is incompetent.
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Rahman → think → ?
And she voted multiple times against moving homeless encampments from schools. …
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she → vote → schools
She is not endorsed by her district.
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She → endorse → district
She wants to fire the police chief.
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She → want → chief
She doesn’t have a plan and she’s against public safety.
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she → have → safety
And so I didn’t have a great choice.”
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I → have → choice
Cilic voted for Spencer Pratt in the primaries, but also wishes Rick Caruso, Bass’s opponent in 2022, would have run again.
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Caruso → vote → 2022
Jeremy Elbaum, a chief commercial officer, also mentioned Caruso as a candidate he would have preferred.
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he → mention → candidate
Elbaum voted for Raman, but not for the reason a voter typically casts their ballot.
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voter → vote → ballot
“In order to really hit rock bottom and maybe start to see some progress, you got to hit really the worst of the worst,” he said.
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he → hit → worst
“It’s like tanking in sports.
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It → ’ → sports
So if you have this really bad candidate now and Raman, who’s even a little bit worse than Bass, maybe then we’ll start to wake up.”
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we → have → Bass
Tom Doran, an electrician who is starting the framing on his Palisades home rebuild, used the phrase “it’s the devil you know, verse the devil you don’t” in explaining his vote for Bass.
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you → start → Bass
“If I left it blank, it’s just one more vote for Raman,” he said.
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he → leave → Raman
She’s against the police.
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She → ’ → police
She’s done nothing with the homeless, with the drug addicts.”
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She → do → addicts
Robyn Sidoti, a stay-at-home mom in Palisades, said she voted for Bass “hesitantly, having lost my house and all of the failures that happened after.”
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that → stay → failures
She asked city council member Traci Park (a better option for Los Angeles Mayor, according to her and some of her friends), who has been the most helpful to Palisidians, and her answer was Bass.
uncertain
answer → ask → Palisidians
“If anyone’s going to help us, I feel she will,” Sidoti said.
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Sidoti → go → us
The Aporia
