With less than a week until the June 2 primary, , president of the , already has his ballot filled out. But he admits he is still undecided on one of the biggest races on the ballot.
Sylmar Neighborhood Council President Kurt Cabrera-Miller weighs in on the tight LA mayoral and California gubernatorial primaries, with new polls showing razor-thin margins among top candidates just days before Tuesday's election.
With less than a week until the June 2 primary, , president of the , already has his ballot filled out. But he admits he is still undecided on one of the biggest races on the ballot.
Cabrera-Miller has his governor pick tentatively marked for Xavier Becerra, but says he could still switch to Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, according to an interview published Thursday by the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol.
"Somos un gran estado, así que necesitamos un gran líder," Cabrera-Miller said.
"We are a big state, so we need a big leader," he said. If he changes his mind, he plans to vote in person at a polling place rather than mail in his ballot.
Cabrera-Miller praised Becerra for his tenure as California attorney general from 2017 to 2021, when he led a multi-state coalition to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over environmental protection failures.
He also admires Mahan's record as San Jose mayor, particularly the city council's decision to ban Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from using city property.
The governor's race is crowded with 61 candidates, but new polling shows Becerra in the lead. A Public Policy Institute of California survey released Thursday found Becerra drawing the strongest support, followed closely by Republican Steve Hilton and billionaire Tom Steyer, according to Politico.
"He's in a very strong position now," said PPIC Statewide Survey Director Mark Baldassare.
Steyer's campaign pushed back, noting the poll did not capture the latter part of May, a period when Steyer has intensified ad attacks on Becerra's ties to the oil industry, according to PBS News.
On the mayoral front, Cabrera-Miller has no doubts. He plans to vote for incumbent Karen Bass.
"La razón principal es que he trabajado junto con su oficina, así como con ella en varios eventos, y he visto la diferencia en los últimos años," Cabrera-Miller said.
"The main reason is that I have worked alongside her office, as well as with her at various events, and I have seen the difference in recent years," he said. He cited progress on homelessness and economic growth under Bass's tenure.
But a new poll shows Bass's lead is vanishing. The UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, found Bass at 26%, City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 25%, and reality TV star Spencer Pratt at 22% among likely voters. The margin of error is approximately 3% in either direction.
The poll surveyed 1,913 registered voters between May 19 and 24, making it the largest public sample released before the election, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Raman and Pratt have each gained 8 percentage points since a March poll, while Bass's support has been essentially flat, according to the Los Angeles Times report. Campaign finance filings show Pratt has raised $3.26 million and Bass has raised $3.13 million through mid-May. Raman reported $931,000 in contributions, including $1.25 million in matching funds and a $60,000 personal loan, according to the poll analysis.
Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed Bass on Thursday.
"The work Karen Bass is doing in Los Angeles is making our entire state stronger, with an 18% decline in homelessness while it grew nationally, historic drops in violent crime, boosting film production in LA, and protecting our communities against ICE. She has my full support for reelection," Newsom said, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Bass's campaign issued its own statement.
"Everyone knew this would be a close race, and it shows Karen Bass in the lead heading into Tuesday," campaign advisor Doug Herman said. "It's a choice between a Mayor who reduced homelessness and hired more officers, a Councilwoman who voted repeatedly to allow encampments near schools and to shrink LAPD, or a reality TV villain."
As of this week, roughly 500,000 mail-in ballots had been returned across Los Angeles County, which has approximately 5.8 million registered voters, according to NBC Los Angeles. Early voting locations across the county are open this weekend ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, June 2.
The top two vote-getters in each race will advance to a November runoff election.
Cabrera-Miller acknowledged local challenges including the Los Angeles wildfires and ICE activity, but said he does not believe another mayor would have handled them differently.
"La alcaldesa tiene todo mi apoyo," he said.
"The mayor has my full support," he said.
This story was reported from the Sylmar beat. Sources include San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol, Los Angeles Times, NBC Los Angeles, PBS News, and Politico.
This article was generated with AI assistance.