After experiencing recent breakthroughs in her campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, there’s high speculation that Karen Bass could land the position. According to a February UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Times, a wide margin of voters say they would put Bass into the November primary if they were to vote today.
Voting for the local primary election is slated for June 7, and just less than a third of the city’s residents say they’ve already decided on who they want to replace current Mayor Eric Garcetti. According to KTLA, about 40% of people said they haven’t decided on a candidate yet.
Rep. Bass declared her bid for mayor last September on Twitter, telling her followers how she knows what issues matter to Los Angeles citizens.
“With my whole heart, I’m ready,” Bass announced in a tweet last year. “Let’s do this — together. I’m running for mayor.”
“Our city is facing a public health, safety and economic crisis in homelessness that has evolved into a humanitarian emergency,” Bass said in a statement. “I’ve spent my entire life bringing groups of people together in coalitions to solve complex problems and produce concrete change — especially in times of crisis. Los Angeles is my home.”
Bass was a six-term representative for the state of California and was previously the head of the Congressional Black Caucus. NPR reports that before she announced her mayoral campaign, she was supposedly considered as a potential running mate for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for office. He ultimately decided to partner with now Vice President Kamala Harris. Bass was also considered to take Harris’ vacated Senate seat, but Gov. Gavin Newson tapped Sen. Alex Padilla, then serving as California’s secretary of state, for the job.
As a mayoral candidate, she’s raised the most campaign funds of all the candidates, raking in $1.982 million, per Spectrum News 1. As of February, she’d only spent around $370,000 on her campaign. However, billionaire Rick Caruso announced his mayoral campaign in February, and his potential to self-fund his campaign could have an impact on the race, according to the Los Angeles Times. In February, the Times reported that Forbes listed Caruso’s wealth as $4.3 billion and that he had declined to say how much he would likely spend on his campaign.
Although the billionaire has not disclosed how much he has fundraised, according to The Hollywood Reporter, UTA co-president Jay Sures hosted a fundraiser for the mayoral candidate. Additionally, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos and his wife, Nicole Avant, former ambassador to the Bahamas during the Obama Administration, hosted a fundraiser for Caruso.
Caruso is a developer of luxury properties and has pointed out the city’s rising crime and homelessness as a priority if elected.
Other candidates include councilman Joe Buscaino ($1.182 million), city attorney Mike Feuer ($549,322), Jessica Lall, president and CEO of the Central City Association ($403,452), former Metro board member Mel Wilson ($137,982), entrepreneur Ramit Varma ($182,356).
