Los Angeles Mayor's Race: Is Adam Miller the Grownup That Got Away?
The Unspeakeasy With Meghan Daum
Meghan Daum
4.7 • 855 Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2026
⏱️ 73 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Adam Miller is one of more than a dozen candidates running for mayor of Los Angeles, but unlike some of his rivals, he comes from the worlds of tech and nonprofit management rather than politics. Miller founded the e-learning company Cornerstone and the homelessness prevention nonprofit Better Angels, and says he entered the race because he believes the city's failures — especially around homelessness — are fundamentally operational.
In this conversation, Miller explains why encampments persist outside housing facilities, why affordable housing costs have spiraled, why shelters can sit half-empty, and why the city still lacks basic real-time data on homelessness. He also addresses the strange dynamics of a campaign unfolding in an attention economy where reality star Spencer Pratt has emerged as a serious contender. Miller argues that while he and Pratt often identify the same problems, he has the management experience to actually implement solutions.
Guest Bio:
Adam Miller, a tech entrepreneur and chief executive of the nonprofit Better Angels, is running for mayor of Los Angeles.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We have to take back control of our streets. |
| 0:03.0 | We have to take back control of our city. |
| 0:06.0 | And the only way that's going to happen is if somebody knows how to get things done. |
| 0:12.0 | It's not going to happen just by complaining about it or being outraged about it or yelling about it. |
| 0:19.0 | It's only going to happen with real results, |
| 0:22.7 | with operational changes, with budgetary changes that enable these things to actually get |
| 0:29.8 | fixed and turn the city around. |
| 0:40.7 | Welcome to the unsspeak Easy podcast. |
| 0:42.6 | I'm your host, Megan Dom. |
| 0:48.3 | This is not a political podcast, as I think you know, but life is surprising. And this week, I found myself interviewing yet another candidate for mayor of Los Angeles. A few weeks ago, I interviewed |
| 0:56.4 | reality star Spencer Pratt, who is running for mayor here and has turned a local race into a |
| 1:03.0 | national story. I have been supportive of Pratt's campaign for reasons that I talked about at length |
| 1:10.6 | here on the podcast and I've also |
| 1:12.8 | written about. |
| 1:13.7 | I have a big piece in the Atlantic. |
| 1:16.1 | If you want to go check that out. |
| 1:18.5 | But part of the reason for my support is that the person I otherwise would probably have |
| 1:24.0 | supported has been at the mercy of an attention economy that is not putting |
| 1:30.6 | him in the spotlight. That person is Adam Miller. Adam is a lifelong Democrat, interested in |
| 1:37.8 | housing, homelessness, public safety, government efficiency. He founded the e-learning software |
| 1:43.8 | company Cornerstone, and he also founded a |
| 1:47.3 | homelessness prevention nonprofit called Better Angels. So the June 2nd primary, and just so you're clear, |
... |
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