Mayor, sheriff debates tonight

The candidates for Los Angeles mayor and Los Angeles County sheriff will take the stage in televised debates Wednesday night at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva squares off against retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna in an hourlong debate at 6 p.m.

In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, Rep. Karen Bass and developer Rick Caruso go head-to-head at 7 p.m., also for one hour.

The back-to-back debates will be broadcast live on Fox 11 and by KPCC-FM 89.3 for radio listeners. The debates will be streamed live at latimes.com, univision34 .com and KPCC.org.

A recent poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, shows Bass leading Caruso by 12 percentage points and Luna with a small lead over Villanueva.

The poll showed a high number of undecided voters in both races.

“This debate does hold the potential to set the narrative for the next few weeks,” said Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.

Times columnist Erika D. Smith and Fox 11 anchor Elex Michaelson will moderate both sessions, joined by Univision anchors Oswaldo Borraez during the sheriff ’s debate and Gabriela Teissier during the mayoral hour. KPCC reporter Frank Stoltze also will question the candidates.