Which large city has the worst...?

America's largest cities (LA, NYC and Chicago) attract voters who deserve what they're going to get? Sorry, that was very cold. I need to have more compassion for the intellectually disadvantaged idiots who vote for....

I think it's unfair of the authors to claim LA is going to the "bottom". That diminishes the accomplishments of Brandon and Mamdani.

Personally I'm rooting for Raman. The journalist ops are far superior.

Los Angeles Races to the Bottom

Bass and Raman argue over who is worse on the homeless and disorder.

By The Editorial Board, WSJ

Oct. 30, 2026 5:35 pm ET

The choice Los Angeles voters face for Mayor between inept incumbent Karen Bass and leftwing City Council member Nithya Raman isn’t democracy’s finest hour. Even the candidates seem to realize they’re unappealing, judging by their furious efforts to deflect from their records.

A new poll this week from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times shows the two Democrats running neck and neck. Ms. Bass finished first in the June jungle primary with 34% of the vote. Ms. Raman drew 29%, edging out Republican Spencer Pratt. Yet roughly two-thirds of Angelenos view the mayor unfavorably.

That the race is a dead heat shows that Ms. Raman, a Democratic Socialists of America member, is equally unsavory. Ms. Raman served as an ally of the mayor on the City Council and chair of the housing and homeless committee. She supported defunding the police in 2020 and opposed removing homeless camps. In March she voted to steer tens of millions in taxpayer dollars to a nonprofit that sued to block the city from clearing encampments.

City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto this month reported that between $55 million and $87 million in funds the nonprofit received couldn’t be reconciled with public financial records. Oops. It’s hilarious to watch Ms. Raman wash her hands of the vagrancy epidemic and lambast the mayor for mismanaging homeless funds.

“Homelessness is the primary issue that voters are dealing with,” Ms. Raman said in a recent debate. “They’re frustrated with the lack of progress, and they’re frustrated with the amount of money that’s being spent without any accountability.”

Yes, they are. Under Ms. Bass’s signature program, the city has spent $82,420 a year for each homeless person it has sheltered in motels.

Ms. Raman calls the program a money pit. She’d rather place vagrants in “supportive” affordable housing, which is also a money pit. One of these units costs on average $832,158 to build thanks to government wage and other mandates.

Federal Judge David Carter in January rebuked the city for failing to accurately track homelessness and spending. “There have been numerous instances of fraud and corruption proliferating unabated within the homelessness-industrial complex,” he wrote. Ms. Bass’s response? Ms. Raman would be worse.

The mayor has focused her attacks on Ms. Raman’s hostility toward police and opposition to clearing homeless encampments. She promotes a video in which Ms. Raman criticized police chief Jim McDonnell and urged Angelenos to “stop fascist liars.”

You almost have to pity LA voters who are forced to choose between a Democratic mayor they know is a disaster and a Democratic socialist they suspect could be worse. Then again, they could have backed Mr. Pratt in the primary. Sad to say, the citizens of La La Land may get the dysfunction they voted for.