New campaign finance disclosures show Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has a roughly three-to-one funding edge over City Councilmember Nithya Raman heading into the November election. The gap is even wider in **independent expenditures**, where spending supporting Bass is outpacing spending for Raman by **36-to-1**.
The Los Angeles Police Protective League has been the biggest spender so far, putting **$1.2 million** into ads targeting Raman and other candidates. Airbnb also gave **$750,000** to a Bass-supporting committee, after Bass this year pushed a deregulation plan backed by the company.
Other major Bass allies include Douglas Emmett, one of Los Angeles’ largest commercial real estate firms, which gave **$525,000** to a police union spending committee. Bass also received support in the hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups tied to the construction trades and city employees unions.
Bass already had **$1.5 million** in her reelection account earlier this year, while Raman did not begin fundraising until the spring. Under city rules, direct contributions are capped at **$1,800 per election cycle**, but independent expenditure committees can spend unlimited amounts. The general election is set for **Nov. 3**, with ballots to be mailed to registered voters about a month earlier.
