Five leading candidates for L.A. mayor debate on Tuesday. How to watch

LOS ANGELES, CA -- APRIL 10: Los Angeles City Hall in downtown displays blue lights to show support for health care workers and first responders on the front lines against the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, April 10, 2020, in Los Angeles, CA. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
Five candidates who seek to occupy the mayor's office at City Hall, seen in April 2020, will debate Tuesday. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

All five of the leading candidates for mayor of Los Angeles will appear in a televised debate for the first time Tuesday.

The event at Bovard Auditorium on the USC campus, which is co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future and Fox 11 L.A., will include Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), City Atty. Mike Feuer and City Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Kevin de León. But unlike the first televised face-off last month, which was held at Loyola Marymount University, Tuesday's debate will also include billionaire developer Rick Caruso. He'll take the place of candidate Mel Wilson, a former member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board.

Seats in the auditorium were available by invitation only.

Here are several ways for you to tune in.

On TV: Fox 11 will carry the debate live and without commercial interruption from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Online: A livestream of the debate will be available in multiple places: YouTube; The Times' website, Twitter account and Facebook page; Fox 11's site; and the Center for the Political Future's Facebook page.

After the fact: A recording of the debate will be available on YouTube and The Times' website.

The five participants in the debate were chosen based on the results of a February poll conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.

The event will be moderated by Times columnist Erika D. Smith and Elex Michaelson, Fox 11 News anchor and host of the statewide political talk show “The Issue Is.”

A total of 12 candidates have qualified for the June 7 primary ballot. The top two finishers in the primary will face off in the Nov. 8 general election unless the winner draws more than 50% of the votes — as current Mayor Eric Garcetti did when he ran for reelection five years ago.

At this point, no other televised debates have been scheduled. There are several candidate forums on tap, but they aren't expected to involve as many of the candidates as Tuesday's debate will.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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