Congresswoman, billionaire to face off in LA mayor’s race

Michael R. Blood

June 7, 2022

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Karen Bass and billionaire developer Rick Caruso breezed past a large field of rivals looking to be the next mayor of Los Angeles and advanced Tuesday to a runoff election in November.

An early tally of mail-in ballots showed Caruso with 41% and Bass with 38%. A candidate needed to top 50% to avoid a runoff.

A dozen names were on the ballot, though several candidates dropped out.

Bass, a favorite of the party’s progressive wing, and the Republican-turned-Democrat Caruso easily distanced themselves from the rest of the field. City Councilman Kevin de Leon, a former state Senate leader, was a distant third with 7%.

Bass, who was on then President-elect Joe Biden’s short list for vice president, would be the first woman mayor of Los Angeles and the second Black person to hold the office.

The race largely focused on homelessness and crime. More than 40,000 people live in trash-strewn homeless encampments and rusty RVs, and widely publicized smash-and-grab robberies and home invasions have unsettled residents.

Each candidate used their victory speeches to promise a better tomorrow while also taking shots at their opponent.

“Together we will make a city where you want to live because you feel safe, because the air you breathe is clean, and because people are no longer dying on our streets,” Bass said. “Not with empty promises from the past, but through a bold path forward.”

Caruso quoted Bass as saying that under her leadership homelessness would not be solved in her first term and that the most residents could count on would be “light at the end of the tunnel” after four years.

“Whoa. Whoa,” Caruso said. “Let me respond by saying this: The light at the end of the tunnel is shining bright tonight.”

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