supporters

Late one afternoon, at the intersection of South La Brea Avenue and Obama Boulevard, Shirley Dace cold-called fellow Angelenos and encouraged them to give L.A. Mayor Karen Bass a second term.

“I love Karen Bass because of all the experience she has,” Dace, a retired flight attendant, told me between phone calls. “Karen Bass was raised here. She knows the city. … I’ve seen her around at different events.”

Meanwhile, roughly 10 miles to the northeast, Christian Perez and Marium Mohiuddin organized a night of door-knocking for Bass challenger Nithya Raman in Boyle Heights.

“I think she’s incredibly intelligent and I want to give her an opportunity,” said Perez.

Given the ICE raids and general denunciations of immigrants, Mohiuddin, a Muslim and Canadian immigrant, said he’s been impressed by Raman’s outreach to minority communities. And Raman is an immigrant, too.

“I want a mayor that’s going to protect me,” said Mohiuddin, who speaks out against Islamophobia and antisemitism, “and I really feel like Nithya would go to bat for us.”

You may have noticed a pattern here. Lots of positivity.

I figured that with just hours to go before election day, you’ve heard plenty from me and others about City Hall dysfunction, about each mayoral candidate’s flaws, and about undecided and uninspired voters here in the land of budget-busting rent, broken sidewalks and blue tarps.

It appeared for a while as if Raman wouldn’t even make it out of the primary, and then it looked as though she had a comfortable lead over Bass in the runoff. But if the latest poll can be trusted, it’s hard to pick a winner. So today I’m going to shed every cynical bone in my body — only temporarily, I promise — and hand the megaphone over to people who unabashedly like either Bass or Raman.

And to be honest, in connecting with these folks on the phone, by text and in person, I was inspired by their interest in civic affairs (if only there were more like them), and their belief that their vote matters.

So here goes, and I’ll start with the incumbent.

::

Shirley Dace, as she worked the phones at Bass headquarters, referred to a five-page list of personal achievements and positive developments during the mayor’s first term. Violent crime is down, solar street lights have been installed by the thousands, Metro rides are free for students, thousands of affordable housing units are on the way and thousands of homeless people have been brought indoors.

“We have a homeless problem, and I realize that,” Dace said, but she believes there’s been progress. “It takes a while to solve these problems.”

One day I happened upon a social media post by Christian Green, who said he was driving by Bass headquarters and popped in to volunteer. I reached him by phone, and the West L.A. College professor told me he volunteered for Bass four years ago, too. Green said he was once in the foster care system, and said Bass has supported foster youth initiatives dating back to her time in Congress.

Bass is the first Black woman, and first female, to be elected mayor of Los Angeles. Given the history of the city’s power structure, economy and racial makeup, Green said, “that is not something we should take lightly.”

One of Green’s students in African American studies, 23-year-old Kioi Shropshire-Maina, also works as a Bass volunteer.

“I’ve heard about her since I was a kid,” said Shropshire-Maina, a communications major.

One of the things he likes about Bass is that her career has followed a long and varied public service trajectory. She first worked in healthcare as a physician assistant at County-USC, then became a social justice activist and co-founder of the Community Coalition, followed by a leadership role in the California Assembly and 12 years in Congress.

“She’s always been kind of like the standard of public service,” said Shropshire-Maina.

He pushed back when I mentioned that Raman seems to be the candidate with more backing among younger and more progressive voters.

“I definitely think Miss Bass has a lot of youth support. I’ve seen it myself. We organize events all the time, and people turn out,” said Shropshire-Maina.

“She’s the most progressive mayor Los Angeles has ever had,” he added, saying he thinks that has played out in her approach to homelessness. She inherited a huge challenge, Shropshire-Maina said, but moved away from policies that criminalized homelessness. “It started with her executive directive … which made government be more proactive and work across departments, and not just rely on police.”

Volunteers work a phone bank for Mayor Karen Bass’ reelection campaign on Oct. 25.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

At Bass headquarters, Shropshire-Maina worked at one phone bank table while Philip Rosen of Hollywood and Christina Schiepe of Westchester worked another table. Rosen said Bass is a pragmatic Democrat who has been dealt a lot, with homelessness and the Palisades fire, “but she’s taken accountability,” and he believes Raman will be accountable primarily to the Democratic Socialists of America.

Schiepe, who had been to Bass headquarters twice previously, is 16.

“I can’t vote, but you know, at least I can do something that could help the cause,” Schiepe said, telling me her parents also support Bass, and one issue in particular stands out for her.

“We really are not happy with the ICE raids going on at the moment,” she said, and Bass “has done a lot to kind of combat that … and try to get them out of Los Angeles.”

Schiepe said she wants to study political science in college, so who knows. Maybe she and Shropshire-Maina will run for office one day, and I can volunteer for them.

Now on to Raman.

Jane Demian, an Eagle Rock retiree and longtime activist and volunteer, said she would have voted for Bass if the opponent were Pratt, but Raman will get her vote.

Demian thought there were some bumps in the rollout of the mayor’s homelessness plan, but she thinks Raman did a good job as head of the council’s homelessness committee. She noted that Raman was one of the founders of the SELAH neighborhood homeless coalition, which steers people in the direction of housing and case management.

“I’m not put off as others are by her DSA connection. DSA is made up of people who want to provide economic support to working people,” Damian said. The “main focus is affordable housing, healthcare, and good wages for working people.”

Just as the Bass volunteers had their scripts to work with, Raman supporters touted the candidate’s work on renter protections, cleared encampments and a reduction in homelessness in her council district. I met with Mid-City residents Perez and Mohiuddin at La Monarca in Boyle Heights, where they were distributing literature to volunteer door-knockers.

Perez, who works in post-production, and Mohiuddin, who works in communications, both like the specificity they hear in Raman’s comments about homelessness, City Hall accountability and greater urgency in problem-solving.

Los Angeles Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who is challenging Mayor Karen Bass, speaks at an Oct. 19 news conference in North Hollywood.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

“When I see Nithya Raman speak, I see someone who’s sincere, who’s kind of a wonk,” and isn’t afraid to dive into policy minutiae, said Perez, or to forge a path independent of the political establishment or dependent on endorsements from fellow council members.

Perez and Mohiuddin voted for Bass four years ago, but don’t think she’s earned a second term.

“It’s very hard to find an Angeleno who’s happy with government,” Perez said.

The change Mohiuddin wants to see, she told me, is simple. She wants for a candidate “to say something’s going to happen, and then stick to it.”

As Perez sees it, Bass has attempted to position herself as the candidate of the people.

“But in canvassing and speaking to people throughout the city … there’s a lot of people who are disappointed with the status quo and perhaps not enough has happened in the last four years to justify them giving [her] another shot,” he said. “So I do think there is an aspect of [voters being hungry for] fresh blood and energy in order to confront the emergencies the city is facing.”

Whatever the outcome on election day, Mohiuddin said, there will be a victory of sorts.

“We’re still going to have a woman leading the city.”

steve.lopez@latimes.com

WASHINGTON — President Trump is hoping that $5,000 checks can juice Republican turnout in November’s midterm elections — but even some of his devoted fans are doubting that government payouts would arrive.

“I mean, I guess it’s good for some people. I really don’t care,” said Jamie Alvarez, who attended Trump’s recent Alaska rally in a red, white and blue outfit. “I don’t feel like your vote should be bought. I feel like you should vote for who you feel is going to do the best job.”

Joseph Eatherton was attending that same rally and said he was “not sure if it’s necessary.” When asked whether Trump could deliver on the promised money, he said, “I don’t know, and I hate being an armchair quarterback.”

The offering of government checks has become a go-to tactic for Trump when he faces a political jam. He’s previously endorsed $2,000 in dividends from tariff revenues and large refunds from spending cuts achieved by the Department of Government Efficiency, neither of which materialized. The latest example could reveal how much voters still trust Trump as they decide control of Congress in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.

Staunch supporters such as Lucy Martinez, the president of a Republican women’s club who attended a recent Trump rally in Texas, said there’s no doubt in their minds.

“I think that I will get the $5,000,” she said. Out of all the presidents, Trump is someone “who kept his promises to his people and all the United States.”

Trump has dished out payments as elections approach

However, many voters are already embittered by his economic leadership. His critics see a president who failed to tame inflation and keep America out of overseas conflicts, and whose agenda has fueled higher prices as the war with Iran appears to be at a stalemate.

“The trust on this is already gone for most people,” said Amy Frederiksen, a former Republican Minnesota Senate majority leader who now runs a public affairs firm.

“I just don’t see the energy around that line,” she added. “Most people know that’s a blatant over-the-top promise like several he’s made in the last couple of years, and they’re not buying it.”

As the midterms approach, Trump has also pledged a $90 payment to 20 million Medicare enrollees and $500 “rebates” for people the administration says were overcharged for their Obamacare plans. He has automatically enrolled every U.S. child in “Trump accounts” to invest in stocks.

The $5,000 payouts would only occur, Trump says, if Republicans keep their majorities in the House and Senate. Trump acknowledges that the cost would exceed $1 trillion, but it’s not clear that the White House is seriously engaging with the proposal’s ramifications, from the increased deficit to the likely boost to inflation.

The White House said the payments are possible because of Trump’s trade deals, investment commitments by foreign countries, government stakes in private companies and deals for oil and minerals.

The administration’s position is that the payments will help people recover from the inflation that began in 2021 under then-President Joe Biden, though Republicans, at the time, attributed that inflation to excessive government checks tied to pandemic relief.

When The Associated Press asked several weeks ago if the administration was modeling the economic impact from the checks, Christopher Phelan, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said he would “refrain” from answering.

Roughly half of registered voters say Donald Trump does not keep his promises to Americans, according to an AP-NORC poll from September. About 3 in 10 say Trump tries to keep his promises but is unable to, while only about 2 in 10 say he keeps his promises.

Republican voters are more accommodating. About half say Trump tries to keep his promises but is unable to, and about 4 in 10 say he keeps his promises.

Republican candidates aren’t echoing Trump’s promise

Trump is talking about the payments as a sure thing.

“If the Republicans win, you’ll each have $5,000 in your pocket and economic success for our country like we have never seen before,” he said at a Saturday rally in Kentucky. “And remember, ’cause they like to say, ‘Oh, well, maybe he won’t do that.’ Uh, I always do it.”

Campaign spending tracked by AdImpact suggests that Republicans are not running advertisements either on television or online about the promise. The few advertisements that do exist are from pro-Democratic groups such as Rolling Sea Action Fund that conclude with the voiceover, “Come on, do you really think he’s sending you a check? Yeah, right, we won’t get fooled again.”

At a Friday rally in Georgia, Trump noted that he had previously delivered a $1,776 “Trump dividend” to troops in the military. But those payments came from a congressionally approved housing supplement.

Trump claims the nation could not afford the payments if Democrats hold a chamber in Congress because the nation would be “flat broke.” But he said that one caveat is that the money could only be spent in the U.S., rather than in China, Japan or France. He joked that people should spend the check at his luxury club in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Let’s have lunch at Mar-a-Lago, where for $5,000, you’ll get one hamburger and a small dessert,” he told the crowd in Georgia.

Some in the crowd took Trump at his word that he would fight to get them the money. But they added the caveat that if he didn’t come through, it would not be his fault.

“I could use $5,000,” said Mike Boatman, a 58-year-old from Evansville, Indiana, who travels the country attending the president’s rallies. “I mean, he’s done everything he’s said he’s going to do.”

Boak, Bohrer and Barrow write for the Associated Press. Bohrer reported from Wasilla, Alaska, and Barrow reported from Dalton, Georgia. AP reporters Aaron Kessler and Linley Sanders in Washington and Lekan Oyekanmi in San Antonio, Texas, contributed to this report.