Nithya Raman told NBC4 she spent the mayoral debate in a “fugue state” and could barely recall what happened.
The challenger, 44, dropped the psychiatric claim into a post-debate interview with reporter Robert Kovacik at Universal City on Tuesday night, just minutes after leaving the stage opposite incumbent Karen Bass, 71. Raman had faced pointed questions about her fitness for office during the tense exchange, which came with roughly three weeks left in the Los Angeles mayoral race.
Kovacik opened by asking for her strongest and weakest moments. She replied:
“Oh, you know, to be honest with you, I’m so sorry but I was in fugue state and I don’t remember very much of it at all.”
The National Institutes of Health defines a fugue state as one of the rare psychiatric disorders characterized by sudden unexpected travelling from one’s customary place of living or work, with traumatic circumstances leading to an altered state of consciousness dominated by a wish to flee thought to be the underlying cause. It remains unclear whether Raman has ever received a clinical diagnosis or whether she intended the remark as dark humor.
Social reaction split sharply. An account called No Show Nithya seized on the response, posting:
“Ah yes, exactly what we need, a mayoral candidate who blacks out when she gets stressed. That’ll go really well.”
Other X users redirected fire toward Bass. One wrote:
“No one blanks out when stressed better than Karen Bass does. At least Nithya took questions after the debate. Karen had to run and hide as usual.”
The post-debate confrontation capped a bitter turn between two former political allies. Raman entered the primary in February, upending expectations and forcing Bass into a competitive re-election fight after a career spanning Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles during which she has never lost an election.
Onstage, Raman hammered Bass over homelessness, business closures, and fiscal management. She said:
“We cannot afford another four years of decline, of mismanagement of excuses. Homelessness is rising despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent. Storefronts are closing. Our tax money is being wasted, and through it all, we’ve had a mayor who has been MIA.”
Bass fired back by raising the 2028 Olympics and casting Raman as too extreme and isolated to govern. She said:
“We are 640 days away from the greatest sporting event in U.S. History, and I believe that the city would be destabilized with someone who has extreme views and basically has not been able to build relationships, not on city council and not with her constituents. Now is not the time to turn the city over to Nithya Raman.”
The debate itself unfolded at Universal City on Tuesday night, with both candidates trading sharp attacks in their only scheduled face-to-face exchange before voters head to the polls.
The general election will decide whether Bass secures a second term or Raman completes her insurgent bid to take City Hall.