Commentary: Post-debate, lingering questions about who Raman is and how she would lead

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Set us as preferred In the Los Angeles mayoral debate Tuesday night, I was reminded of two things.First, as I’ve said before, it’s no surprise that roughly one-third of likely voters remain undecided with less than three weeks to go until election day.Second, there is one key difference between the two candidates: We know who Mayor Karen Bass is, but we don’t yet know who Councilmember Nithya Raman is, even though she’s been leading in most polls.Those two points are connected.I think a majority of voters want a change at City Hall because of the marginal progress on homelessness, the erosion of basic services and the bad decisions before and after the Palisades disaster, among a host of other issues.But they’re not sure what they’d be getting in Raman.As mayoral election day nears, four people talk about how they escaped homelessness.Why not?If you haven’t already seen the story a few days ago by The Times’ longtime City Hall reporting ace, Dave Zahniser, you need to check it out right here.

The headline neatly sums it up:“L.A.mayoral candidate Nithya Raman has strong opinions.

But they often change”Raman has flip-flopped so many times, it’s as if she’s having a political identity crisis, which is not a great selling point for a candidate.She endorsed Bass, an ally, for reelection, and then abruptly and surprisingly announced that she was running against her.She rose to power as a darling of the Democratic Socialists of America, and vowed to defund the police, only to later support an LAPD budget increase.She embraced the so-called mansion tax, then said it needed an overhaul.She supported and helped fund Bass’ signature homelessness initiative, Inside Safe, and now has turned against it.“That’s the real wild card,” said Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.“She ...