Rep. Karen Bass To Run For Mayor Of L.A., Reportedly

Los Angeles CA

24 September, 2021

4:01 PM

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LOS ANGELES, CA —Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, is reportedly planning to run for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022, which would make her the highest profile candidate to throw her name in the hat to date. Citing three people familiar with Bass' plans, the Los Angeles Times broke the news Friday morning. Bass, whose political roots run deep in Los Angeles, has experienced a surge in profile over the last year since rivaling then Sen. Kamala Harris as a potential running mate for Joe Biden. She also came out on top in straw poll of potential mayor's candidates conducted over the summer. If she does make her candidacy official, she joins Councilman Kevin de Leon as the two high-profile progressives in the race. Both are heavy hitters in California politics. Mayor Eric Garcetti is termed out from running again in 2022, and is expected to leave office early pending the U.S. Senate's confirmation of his appointment as ambassador to India. If elected, Bass would be the city's first woman to hold the office. In the United States, a woman has never been elected mayor in a city as large as Los Angeles. She would be the city's second Black mayor following in the footsteps of Tom Bradley, who helmed the city from 1973 to 1993. She has been facing public pressure to run for mayor during recent weeks, and on Aug. 23, a California-based public opinion research firm released a poll that found that more than a quarter of a sample of the city's Democrats supported Bass against current and potential candidates for mayor in the 2022 election. Her profile really skyrocketd as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus during the summer of unrest in 2020 as the nation struggled with a racial reckoning in the wake of George Floyd's murder by a police officer in Minneapolis. SEE ALSO:LA's First Female Mayor? Straw Poll Puts Karen Bass Out FrontKevin de Leon Shakes Up Los Angeles Mayor's Race "She's a national leader in Congress -- a job that has no term limits," Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, D-Los Angeles, tweeted Wednesday about a potential run from Bass. "Her running for mayor would be the greatest demonstration of love and commitment to the city I've ever seen ... and we need it." Bass would not be the first sitting U.S. House of Representatives member to be elected mayor of Los Angeles, but she would be the first since 1953, when Rep. Norris Poulson was elected to lead the city. Then-reps. James Roosevelt, Alphonzo Bell and Xavier Becerra lost campaigns for mayor in 1965, 1969 and 2001, respectively. Bass represents California's 37th Congressional District, which encompasses Los Angeles neighborhoods west and southwest of downtown including Crenshaw, Baldwin Hills, Miracle Mile, Pico-Robertson, Century City, Cheviot Hills, West L.A., Mar Vista and parts of Westwood, as well as the incorporated cities of Culver City and Inglewood. Prior to serving in the House of Representatives, she served as speaker of the California State Assembly, where she was a member from 2004 to 2010. Along with Bass, the current and potential candidates included in the Aug. 23 poll were de Leon,former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner, City Attorney Mike Feuer, Council President Nury Martinez, businessman Rick Caruso, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Joe Buscaino. Of the group, Buscaino and Feuer were the only ones who had announced a run for mayor at the time the poll was released, but de Leon jumped into the race on Sept. 21. Ridley-Thomas and Council President Nury Martinez have both said they will not run for mayor in 2022. De Leon previously served as the president pro tempore of the California Senate, where he served from 2010-18. From 2006-10, he served in the state Assembly. A first generation immigrant with a track record of support in East Los Angeles, he enters the race with a presumed edge among Latino voters. He and Bass would both bring to the race experienced campaign operations and an impassioned base. About 27% of Democrats polled said that if the election were held Friday, they would vote for Bass. "A plurality is undecided, and the race is wide open, but Bass is the only potential candidate for mayor who can claim a real base of support," according to a summary of the survey of 803 Los Angeles voters, which was conducted between July 29 and Aug. 5 by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates. More than one out of five (22%) of all people surveyed said Bass was their first choice among the candidates, and 8% ranked her second. Bass was the only potential or current candidate who received double-digit first-choice support. Caruso, de Leon and Ridley-Thomas tied for second with 6% of respondents saying they were their first choices. The pollsters identified that Bass' advantage over the rest of the potential candidates comes partly from progressives and liberals, with 34% of progressives and 25% of liberals responding that they would vote for her if the election was held Friday. She also had the advantage of being the best known among the candidates and leads with Black Angelenos and people on the Westside and in South Los Angeles. Generally, the poll indicated that about 70% of voters are either very likely or somewhat likely to vote for a woman for mayor, and 69% are very likely or somewhat likely to vote for a person of color to head the city. The person who commissioned the poll was not publicly identified, but a representative for the public opinion research firm said the individual is not a politician. City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.