Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman spent the final weekend before Tuesday's election darting across Los Angeles, hitting churches, union rallies and neighborhood festivals in a scramble for votes.

The two candidates are tied at 40% each among likely voters, according to the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Nineteen percent of voters remained undecided.

That dead heat marks a dramatic shift. In September, Raman held an 11-point lead, 39% to 28%. Bass's surge came largely from conservative voters who backed Republican Spencer Pratt in the June 2 primary, according to the poll.

Saturday on the trail

Bass started Oct. 31 at a rally for union workers, then visited small businesses in Boyle Heights, NBC Los Angeles reported.

"This is about affordability. It's about safety, and it is about opportunity," Bass said. "The opportunities that are coming our way in the next two and a half years."

She also took aim at Raman's consistency. "I don't know what her position is. One minute, she's firing the police chief. The next minute, she's not," Bass said. "We need stability."

Raman spoke to hospitality union workers, judged a Halloween costume contest in Encino and joined a tailgate outside the LA Memorial Coliseum before the USC football game against Ohio State.

"Under this mayor's leadership, by every metric that matters for Angelenos, things have gotten worse in LA," Raman said.

Sunday: churches and tacos

Bass's first stop Nov. 1 was South L.A. Cafe, where she spoke with alumnae of the Divine Nine, a group of historically Black fraternities and sororities, the Los Angeles Times reported. She then appeared on KBLA-AM (1580) radio.

"You know who I am. I am the same person as I have been," Bass told the group, citing her roots as a community organizer in South LA. "No matter what position I have held, this community … has always been front and center of the work that I have done."

Bass then attended services at four churches and one Sikh temple. She also planned to cast her ballot Nov. 1.

Raman began her day at Dolores Mission Catholic Church in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood where she has spent time since the Lineage fire sent noxious smoke into the heavily Latino community. She attended 9 a.m. Mass, chatted with parishioners in English and Spanish and grabbed food from a taco stand in the church courtyard.

"My calendar is so packed. I'm actually scared to look at it," Raman told reporters. She said she was headed to a canvass in Northridge and a Día de los Muertos event in Canoga Park, with a pause for her twins' 11th birthday bowling party.

What's at stake

The winner will lead LA through the 2028 Summer Olympics. If the Games lose money, the city would be on the hook for the first $270 million, the Los Angeles Times reported. Homelessness numbers are rising after two years of reductions, and the next mayor must negotiate new contracts with city employee unions, including the Los Angeles Police Protective League starting in January.

Bass has raised just over $5.4 million total, compared with $2.7 million for Raman, according to the campaigns' final pre-election filings. Outside spending has dwarfed those totals. The police union's political action committee spent about $6 million against Raman. Hedge fund manager Aaron Sosnick put $8 million into committees promoting Raman and attacking Bass.

All 14 of Raman's council colleagues have endorsed Bass.

Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC and UC Berkeley, said the race comes down to undecided voters. "The question … is whether to stick with an unsatisfying status quo, or take the risk with a relatively unknown quantity who could make things better or worse," Schnur said.

Polls close Tuesday, Nov. 3.