Karen Bass launches re-election campaign with rally in downtown LA

LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass formally began her campaign for re-election Saturday with a rally in downtown Los Angeles, promising to make the city safer and more affordable while positioning herself as a candidate who will take on the Trump administration.

Two days after the third anniversary of her swearing-in, Bass launched her campaign surrounded by family, friends and allies at the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College Culinary Arts event space.

“This is just overwhelming. I have to tell you my heart is so full,” she said. “This is so powerful and means so much to me because this has been a hell of a year.

“They say we can’t come together. Labor can’t come together with business, and business can’t come together with community, and the faith community can’t come together. But we all come together always,” Bass added.

“And I’m proud to say that the relationships in this room aren’t relationships because of the campaign. … They are relationships because we all believe in justice.”

While not directly naming President Donald Trump, Bass’ speech focused on her ability to stand up against the Trump administration, noting “Who would have imagined that we would have to defend ourselves from our very government?”

Bass recounted the challenges Los Angeles continues to face — the recovery from January’s Palisades Fire, the ongoing housing affordability and homelessness crises, and the federal government’s crackdown on illegal immigration in the city.

The incumbent touted what she described as her accomplishments in addressing affordability through her Executive Order No. 1, codified into an ordinance earlier this month by the City Council to permanently streamline affordable housing projects; two-year reductions in street homelessness, in part, due to her signature program Inside Safe, and bringing back business to the downtown area via a permanent al fresco initiative and boosting union jobs.

Bass also said the city had made progress in reducing crime and working toward its zero-emissions goal.

“The city I’ve been in my whole life, the city that I love, I feel we have accomplished a lot, but we’re not done,” Bass said. “Until every Palisadian is back home. I will not rest until L.A. is affordable, until one paycheck is enough and families don’t have to double up or triple up. And I will not rest until there are no Angelenos on our streets.”

Allies present at Bass’ rally included City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, council members Hugo Soto-Martinez, Curren Price, Heather Hutt and Adrin Nazarian, as well as Assembly members Sade Elhawary, D-South L.A., Isaac Bryan, D-L.A., Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, Mike Fong, D-Alhambra, state Sen. Lola Smallwood Cuevas, D-South L.A., and former state Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Inglewood.

Roxanne Hoge, chair of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, offered a different view on Bass’ tenure so far.

“Karen Bass should be embarrassed to ask voters to give her the keys to a car she’s run into a ditch repeatedly,” Hoge said in a statement.

“Whether it’s watching poor, mentally-ill, drug-addicted souls dying on the streets or presiding over corruption and filth in the city of Los Angeles, nothing the current mayor has done suggests she deserves a second term in office — especially with the upcoming Olympics and World Cup about to put her dysfunction on the world stage.”

Three people have formally announced campaigns against Bass — Austin Beutner, former superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District; Rae Huang, a deputy director of Housing Now California; and Asaad Alnajjar, a Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council member and longtime city employee.

Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in the 2022 general election, has yet to announce whether he will again run for mayor or possibly run for governor instead.

The election will be held June 2. If no candidate receives a majority, a runoff will be held Nov. 3 among the top two finishers.

Beutner has questioned Bass’ record on crime and development issues, and criticized the response to January’s devastating Palisades Fire, telling the Los Angeles Times that the city showed a “failure of leadership” as historically strong winds spread flames through the expensive coastal enclave, gutting thousands of homes and businesses, and killing 12 people.

When the fire broke out, Bass was in Ghana as part of the four-member presidential delegation attending the inauguration of John Dramani Mahama as president.

A poll of 5,184 registered voters in Los Angeles County conducted Feb. 17-26 by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that 30% said Bass did a “very poor job” in responding to the fire, with another 14% saying she did a poor job, 18% a fair job, 12% a good job and 6% an excellent job, while 20% had no opinion.

Huang has pledged “to make housing affordable for all … make transit free, safe and fast” and “make sure that wages and work are dignified.”

“Mayor Bass campaigned as a pro-housing mayor but in office, she’s been anti-housing. She has gone out of her way to block housing progress, allowing affordable housing projects like Venice Dell to stagnate and attempting to dismantle Measure ULA behind closed doors,” Huang said in a statement.

“Angelenos deserve more than this administration’s halfhearted attempts to solve the housing crisis — they deserve a mayor who will fight for residents who are struggling to survive.”

Meanwhile, Alnajjar has said he would:

— “Resolve homelessness by going to the roots of the issues facing families that are unhoused such as drug addiction/alcoholism, loss of income due to job loss, and providing housing at a reasonable costs to the city”;

— “Fast-track affordable housing approvals and disaster rebuilding permits, cutting through bureaucracy”; and

— “Strengthen wildfire prevention and disaster readiness with modernized systems and well planned effective community-based response plans.”

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