Los Angeles mayoral race challenger Nithya Raman's campaign is facing sharp questions over an attack advertisement aimed at incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, after the spot used footage from a hit documentary that does not appear in the film's official trailer or teaser. With the runoff just days away and the latest poll showing the two candidates locked at 40 per cent each, the row over the ad has become the latest flashpoint in one of America's most closely watched city elections.

Key Points

• Raman's new attack ad targets Bass over the long-delayed LAX Automated People Mover and splices in footage from the documentary "You Can See Everything".
• The campaign credited KNX News for the Bass interview clip but has offered no corresponding explanation for the source of the movie footage, according to the California Post.
• Former mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt asked on X whether Raman's team had used unauthorised theatre-recorded footage of a theatrical release.
• The 2.25-mile LAX people mover was supposed to open in 2023 but is now delayed until at least February 5, 2027, at a cost of $3.34 billion.
• A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, released October 28, puts Bass and Raman tied at 40 per cent, with 19 per cent undecided, ahead of Tuesday's runoff.

What Happened

The advertisement takes aim at Bass over the troubled airport train, known as the LAX SkyLink Automated People Mover. It splices together Bass discussing the project with a scene from the record-breaking documentary "You Can See Everything" in which comedian Nathan Fielder questions Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes about whether her company's device "can run any test" or is "capable" of running any test.

In the ad, Bass is heard saying: "The people mover is there you can see it," before clarifying: "No, I'm saying it's in its testing phase." The juxtaposition is plainly designed to cast doubt on the mayor's account of the project's readiness, borrowing the documentary's sceptical tone and applying it to the airport train.

The California Post reported that the footage from the documentary does not appear to be included in the film's official trailer or viral teaser, raising the question of where the campaign obtained it. The campaign credited KNX News for the mayor's interview, the report said, but offered no corresponding explanation for the source of the movie footage.

That gap drew attention online, including from Spencer Pratt, the reality television star who lost in the June primary to Bass and Raman and has since been sniping from the sidelines. "Wait a second… did the lady who wants to represent Hollywood… rip in-theater camcorder footage of a theatrical release film for a campaign ad?" Pratt wrote on X, adding "WTF."

It is important to be precise about what has and has not been established. Recording a theatrical release directly off a movie screen without authorisation can violate copyright law and constitute movie theatre piracy. But the available information does not establish who recorded the clips or whether Raman's campaign obtained permission to use them. The controversy, at this stage, is a question about sourcing and permission, not a proven finding of wrongdoing.

Background/Context

Raman, a Los Angeles city councilmember, is challenging Bass for leadership of America's second-largest city in a runoff on Tuesday, November 3, 2026. She came second in the June first round, ahead of Pratt, after a primary she was not widely expected to survive, and she has built her campaign around housing affordability, tenant protections and a housing-first approach to homelessness.

Born in Kerala, India, in July 1981, Raman moved with her family to Louisiana at the age of six. She graduated from Harvard in 2003, spent seven years working on informal settlements on the outskirts of Indian cities, and co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles in 2017, organising showers and hot meals for unhoused Angelenos. In 2020 she defeated incumbent councilmember David Ryu, 52.9 per cent to 47.1 per cent, becoming the first South Asian woman elected to the Los Angeles City Council and its first Democratic Socialists of America member.

Bass, the incumbent, is fighting for a second term against a backdrop of voter discontent. The same Berkeley poll that shows the race tied also found 65 per cent of likely voters viewing Bass unfavourably, compared with 32 per cent favourably, a hangover that pollsters link in part to her response to the January 2025 wildfires. Hollywood stars have urged voters to re-elect her, while outside money has flowed mostly to Raman's side.

The two candidates' attacks on each other have grown sharper as polling day nears. Bass's camp says Raman allows encampments near schools and would cut the police force; Raman has said the Los Angeles Police Department must not shrink further, a shift from her earlier positions. The ad row is the latest exchange in a campaign that has swung sharply: in September, the Berkeley poll had Raman ahead 39 per cent to 28 per cent, an 11-point lead that has now vanished entirely.

Los Angeles Mayoral Race: Why the LAX People Mover Became the Flashpoint

The people mover is an unusually potent symbol for a mayoral campaign because it is visible, expensive and late. The 2.25-mile elevated train is meant to connect Los Angeles International Airport's terminals with car parks, public transport and a new consolidated car rental facility. Its development cost stands at $3.34 billion, roughly $1.49 billion per mile, and it was originally supposed to open in 2023.

Instead, the project has been pushed back until at least February 5, 2027. A test run of the new SkyLink train took place at the airport on April 23, 2026, but technical problems during testing, disputes between city agencies and ongoing legal battles have contributed to the latest delay, according to the California Post. For commuters and visitors, the train remains a construction project rather than a working service, and for Raman's campaign it is a ready-made emblem of City Hall failing to deliver.

That is why the wording in the ad matters so much. Bass's remark that "the people mover is there you can see it" followed by the clarification that it is "in its testing phase" captures the gap between a project that looks finished and one that passengers still cannot ride. By pairing it with Fielder's interrogation of Holmes, the ad invites voters to hear the mayor's assurance as another overpromised claim, an association Bass's supporters are certain to call unfair.

The people mover is not the only issue in the race. Raman has pledged to cut the number of people living on Los Angeles streets by half before the city hosts the 2028 Olympic Games, and she claims on her website that 40 per cent of people moved indoors under Bass's Inside Safe programme returned to the streets. But in the final days, the airport train has become the shorthand argument: a multibillion-dollar project, years late, in a city preparing to welcome the world.

Reactions/Quotes

Pratt's intervention has given the story its widest circulation. "Wait a second… did the lady who wants to represent Hollywood… rip in-theater camcorder footage of a theatrical release film for a campaign ad?" he wrote on X. The barb lands because of its irony: Raman is seeking to lead a city whose signature industry is film, and Pratt frames the alleged borrowing as a slight against Hollywood itself.

Bass's own words in the ad do most of the campaign's work for it: "The people mover is there you can see it," she says, before adding, "No, I'm saying it's in its testing phase." Raman's campaign has not, in the reporting so far, explained the source of the documentary footage, and that silence is now part of the story. Campaigns routinely use news clips with attribution, as Raman's team did with KNX News; the unanswered question is whether the same care was taken with the film material.

Poll director Mark DiCamillo told the Los Angeles Times that Bass's surge has been driven largely by conservative voters making up their minds, specifically those who backed Pratt in the primary. Bass nearly doubled her support among Pratt voters, jumping from 22 per cent to 41 per cent, while Raman's share among that group slipped to 14 per cent. Bass also moved from behind to a 44-33 lead in the San Fernando Valley.

Why It Matters

The row matters for three reasons. First, it tests a basic rule of modern campaigning: an attack ad that raises a legitimate question about a rival can backfire if its own methods become the story. If Raman's campaign cannot show it had the right to use the documentary footage, the ad's message about Bass's credibility risks being turned back on its maker, days before voters decide.

Second, the race itself is a genuine toss-up with national resonance. Los Angeles elects its mayor on the same day as the 2026 midterm elections, when a record 47.9 million Americans had already voted early by midday on Friday, October 30, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab. The LA result will be read alongside those national results as a measure of where urban voters stand, and Raman's candidacy has drawn comparisons with Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialists-backed politician elected mayor of New York City.

Third, the underlying issue will not disappear on Wednesday morning. Whoever wins on Tuesday inherits the people mover, its February 2027 target date, its legal disputes and its $3.34 billion price tag, plus a homelessness crisis and an Olympic deadline in 2028. The ad row is a campaign controversy; the train is a governing problem.

What Happens Next

Voters in Los Angeles cast their final ballots on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and the 19 per cent who told pollsters they were undecided will decide a race that is, statistically, dead even. The Berkeley survey polled 2,197 voters online between October 19 and 25, with a margin of error of approximately 3 percentage points, so the 40-40 tie could break in either direction.

Not every poll agrees, which is itself a warning against overconfidence. A McLaughlin & Associates survey for the California Post had Raman ahead 46.7 per cent to 38.8 per cent, a very different picture from the Berkeley tie. Prediction markets have also swung: one market tracker noted the LA mayoral market flipping from Raman to Bass on the same day the Berkeley poll was published, with Bass then favoured at 57 per cent. The final composition of the electorate, including the balance between mail ballots and in-person turnout on election day, could still shift the outcome.

The footage question may also develop further. If the documentary's rights holders or the campaign clarify how the clips were obtained, the story will either close quickly or grow into a formal copyright complaint. Either way, the ad has already achieved one thing for Raman's campaign: it has put the delayed people mover, and Bass's record on delivering it, at the centre of the final weekend's conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the controversy over Nithya Raman's attack ad?

The ad attacks Karen Bass over the delayed LAX people mover and uses footage from the documentary "You Can See Everything" that does not appear in the film's official trailer or teaser. The campaign credited KNX News for the Bass clip but has not explained the source of the movie footage, prompting questions about whether it was properly licensed.

Has Raman's campaign been found to have broken the law?

No. Recording a theatrical release without authorisation can violate copyright law, but the available information does not establish who recorded the clips or whether the campaign obtained permission. The controversy is currently about unanswered questions over sourcing, not a proven violation.

Why is the LAX people mover delayed?

The 2.25-mile, $3.34 billion project was originally due to open in 2023 but is now delayed until at least February 5, 2027, after technical problems during testing, disputes between city agencies and ongoing legal battles.

Who is leading the Los Angeles mayoral race?

Nobody, according to the latest Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times poll released October 28: Bass and Raman are tied at 40 per cent each, with 19 per cent undecided. A separate McLaughlin poll had Raman ahead, so the race is genuinely unsettled.

When is the Los Angeles mayoral runoff?

Tuesday, November 3, 2026, the same day as the US midterm elections. The winner serves a four-year term as mayor of Los Angeles.

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