The Los Angeles Left Needs to Rally Behind Karen Bass for Mayor
Picture of Los Angeles City Hall. Photo by David Wilson.
On June 7th, voters from the country’s second largest municipality, the city of Los Angeles, will head to the polls to pick which two candidates will vie for the mayorship this November. At a time when the city is facing rampant homelessness, a rise in crime, the impacts of climate change, and crumbling public infrastructure, Angelenos need a mayor who tackles these issues with a bold, progressive agenda that invests in its people. The city needs a mayor who resists reactionary, short-term solutions that scapegoat our most vulnerable communities and who advocates for a unified Los Angeles.
Instead, centrist billionaire Rick Caruso leads the polls. Because of California’s jungle primary system, only the two candidates who receive the most votes in June will be on the ballot this November, reducing this 11 person race to a head-to-head. In order to have a shot at the mayor’s office, candidates must rally supporters and make their case to voters now. Caruso is a real estate developer and former Republican who switched his party affiliation to Democrat in order to remain competitive in deeply liberal Los Angeles. He has thus far refused to release his tax returns. He has instead opted to release just the amount of money he paid in taxes, which he somehow thinks Angelenos won’t recognize as a completely useless piece of information without the accompanying data of how much money he actually made. Despite his socioeconomic status, he markets himself as an outsider who can shakeup the political elite and enact real change on behalf of common people. And, contrary to evidence against punitive policing, he has run his campaign on law and order messaging and a promise to clean up the streets.
But putting all that aside, there is another major problem with Rick Caruso: he has spent more of his own personal money on the race than the other candidates combined, buying his way into the runoffs. Caruso entered the race one day before the filing deadline, and has since poured 22.5 million dollars into the campaign. This is in contrast to the 1 to 2 million dollars raised by other candidates. While he initially entered the race in February with 8% support, his numbers have since tripled to 24%. This increase can be attributed to the fact that until recently, Caruso was the only candidate who had the funds to advertise on television and social media, buying himself name recognition and support while crowding 10 of the 11 other candidates out of the race. While many Los Angeles voters have expressed fatigue with the constant bombardment of Rick Caruso ads between tweets, television shows, and Facebook posts, that doesn’t mean that his advertising blitz hasn’t been incredibly effective. Though he may paint this antidemocratic power grab as freeing the municipal executive from special interests, it is clear that Rick Caruso is attempting to buy himself the mayorship. And, so far, he is succeeding.
Because of the structure of the top-two primary system, the only viable alternative to Caruso’s candidacy is Congresswoman Karen Bass. Former chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus and lifelong progressive, Bass began her political career organizing against the wave of anti-crime legislation that criminalized poverty during the 1990s and has more recently authored the 2021 George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Bass announced her candidacy for mayor in September of 2021 and was the clear frontrunner before Caruso jumped into the race 6 months later. She is currently polling at 23%, one point behind Caruso, a testament to her widespread name recognition in Southern California despite her budget being 1/28th the size of her opponent’s.
Despite her progressive bonafides, many left wing groups in the city such as Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, The Peoples City Council, and JusticeLA have criticized Bass’ more moderate approach on policing and homelessness. In an effort to court voters in a city hyper-focused on issues of homelessness and crime, Bass has proposed putting an additional 250 officers on the street and has repeatedly voiced her opposition to the slogan “Defund the Police.” On homelessness, Bass has promised to end street encampments and supports the spirit of anti-camping ordinances that criminalize sleeping outside. For these reasons, many left wing groups have refused to endorse her, and some activists have begun to disrupt debates by yelling profanity at candidates over their stances on homelessness and crime. This progressive discord has the potential to pave the way towards Caruso’s purchase of city hall. If the Los Angeles left wants to win the mayoral race against a candidate that is far more dangerous to progressive priorities, they must rally behind Caruso’s only electable challenger, Bass.
While some of Bass’ stances on these issues are indeed disappointing from a progressive perspective, they pale in comparison to the out of sight, out of mind approach Rick Caruso brings to crime and homelessness. Caruso has falsely stated that Los Angeles’ increased levels of crime are at historic levels and wants to add 1,500 officers to the city’s police force, 6 times the number Bass has proposed. While Caruso advocates for the deployment of “precision policing,” which concentrates police in low income, minority communities, Bass supports having mental health professionals and social workers respond to 911 calls related to their respective issues so that police officers can respond to violent crimes. Caruso has called for an increase in the LAPD budget that would erase the progress that the city council made after George Floyd’s murder, whereas Bass has opposed such an increase. Preventing Caruso from enacting this regression to 1990s reactionary policy requires a unified resistance from the progressive movement that has thus far been lacking.
On homelessness, Caruso has promised to create 30,000 temporary beds and clear encampments in his first year as mayor without a clear plan for how he will accomplish this or permanently house these communities. This plan is almost identical to a threat Donald Trump made to use federal funds to force people into barrack style shelters under threat of arrest. Bass opposes methods that simply move unhoused people from one neighborhood to another and has outlined a homelessness plan that reflects an understanding of the systemic change necessary to decrease the costs of living in the city. On environmental issues, Caruso currently has no plan on his website to tackle climate change or replace our crumbling infrastructure with sustainable investment, whereas Bass does. And while Bass’ funds come from people who support her campaign whom she must deliver on behalf of in order to be re-elected, Caruso is beholden to no one except his own pockets, making him dangerous and unpredictable to the left, who cannot rely upon him to enact policy.
Karen Bass is by no means perfect. But the primary election is two weeks away and the only leftist candidate in the race, Gina Viola, is polling at 2% and has not qualified for a single debate. It's time for the Los Angeles left to cut its losses and rally around the candidate who isn’t trying to buy her way into office because countering the financial resources of the Caruso campaign is going to take all the manpower the city’s left wing can muster. The infighting between the progressive wing of the Democratic Party risks the emboldening of corporate interests and a renewal of the 1990s’ tough on crime rhetoric, instead of moving the city towards a more just, equitable, and sustainable future. In order to win LA’s mayoral election this November, leftist voters cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The left must send a clear message to Caruso and others like him that the city isn’t up for sale.
Max Edelstein (SEAS ’25) is a staff writer on CPR studying Environmental Engineering and Political Science. A native Angeleno, he has been involved in local politics throughout high school and cares deeply about the future of his home.