Los Angeles mayoral candidate and US Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) speaks during an election night party ... [+]
Los Angeles voters have elected six-term Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass to serve as the city’s 43rd mayor. She will be the first woman and only the second Black person to lead our nation’s second-largest city.
The mayoral race was called in Bass’ favor on Tuesday, one full week after election day. The New York Times reports that Bass received 53% of votes, defeating billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso.
The Los Angeles Times estimates that Caruso spent more than $100 million on his campaign, significantly more than Bass. Why didn’t outspending Bass work for him? I’ll leave it to my faculty colleagues here in the University of Southern California political science department to do the research and present evidence-based explanations. But in the meantime, I’ll offer several possibilities.
Both candidates crafted plans to fix the city’s homelessness and unaffordable housing crises, as well as its longstanding crime problems. Some voters inevitably liked Bass’ plans better than Caruso’s. Hiring 1,500 additional LAPD officers was one thing Caruso promised during a time that Americans are increasingly calling for funds to be redirected from law enforcement to multi-sector efforts that will address the larger systemic forces that lead to crime and violence. Some voters said no thanks to putting more cops on the city’s predominantly people of color streets.
It could also be that voters were annoyed by the avalanche of Caruso brochures that flooded their mailboxes just about every day, as well as too many television and radio ads urging them to put their trust in a billionaire. For some, it felt like he was trying to buy the election. Stark campaign wealth inequities might’ve inspired some to vote for the financially underprivileged, economically more relatable candidate.
Caruso, a longtime Republican, switched his political party just a few days prior to jumping into the mayoral race. It’s really hard for a Republican to be voted L.A. mayor, especially one who’d helped finance the campaigns of numerous GOP candidates and for years publicly opposed abortion. In an interview, Caruso explained that he no longer agreed with the direction in which the Republican Party was going. It’s plausible that many voters didn’t buy it. They likely thought of him as a conservative conveniently masquerading as a Democrat just to get elected.
It seems that some voters valued Bass’ deep political experience over the business background Caruso brought to the race. According to her congressional website, Bass has served on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and on the House Judiciary Committee. She also has been chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, and a member of 20 other congressional caucuses.
Before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2008, Bass served three terms in the California State Assembly. She was elected Speaker of the Assembly in 2008, making her the first-ever Black woman in U.S. history to serve in that role for any state. Because of her deep political experience, Bass was reportedly on the shortlist of prospects whom Joe Biden seriously considered to be his vice presidential running mate in the 2020 national election. He ultimately chose California Senator Kamala Harris.
Biden, Harris, and President Barack Obama endorsed Bass in the L.A. mayoral race. Maybe, just maybe two U.S. presidents and the sitting VP wouldn’t have endorsed a weak, inexperienced candidate whose track record in Congress failed to impress them. Two-time presidential hopeful and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders endorsed her, too. Perhaps some loyal Democratic voters were more persuaded by Obama, Biden, Harris, and Sanders than they were by Snoop Dogg, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Pratt, and other celebrities who publicly declared their support for Caruso.
I’ll conclude with one additional noteworthy possibility: some voters thought it was finally time to elect an extraordinarily qualified woman to serve as the city’s chief executive officer, and some felt that having just one Black mayor in the 241-year history of L.A. wasn’t enough.
This mayoral contest occurred in one of our country’s most racially and ethnically diverse cities. Diversity is highly valued here. Telemundo journalist Dunia Elvir referred to Caruso as white in a debate she moderated in October. He swiftly corrected her by saying, “I’m Italian... that’s Latin.” Evidently, that wasn’t enough to compel some voters to view him as distinguishably different from the overwhelming majority of men who’ve served as L.A. mayor.
Bass’ victory is incontestably a huge win for both racial diversity and gender diversity in California’s largest city.
