00:00wildfires of 2025 have emerged as a defining issue in the 2026 elections. Nowhere is that
00:07more true than in Los Angeles, where Spencer Pratt, who lost his family home in the fire,
00:12is mounting a spirited challenge against incumbent mayor Karen Bass. But socialist candidate Nithya
00:18Rahman has come up with a proposal for rebuilding in the Pacific Palisades that is getting some
00:22attention. One of the things that she's proposing is the creation of a special taxation district
00:27that would allow locals to bring in money for rebuilding through a special property tax that
00:34went specifically to the Palisades fire burn area. That's an idea that residents, at least some
00:39residents, have been pushing for quite some time. So it's interesting that Nithya Rahman, who's a
00:45socialist with not a lot of support in the Palisades, is actually listening and repeating or adopting a
00:52proposal that some residents have been putting forward for several months. Whether that allows
00:56to gain traction remains to be seen, but it is part of Rahman's shift toward the center. It's a
01:02shift that has cost her the support of some of her former supporters on the left, including in the
01:07Democratic Socialists of America. She and Spencer Pratt are neck and neck in the race for second place
01:12and the right to challenge Karen Bass in the general election if they can keep her below the 50%
01:17threshold for winning outright on June 2nd. In the statewide races, the issues of fire insurance and
01:24emergency preparedness are also big topics in gubernatorial debates as candidates wrestle with the
01:31legacy of outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom, who's trying to run for president with a trail of burnt
01:37forests and communities behind him.
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