On June 7, after the first round of voting came in, billionaire developer Rick Caruso stood in the middle of his luxury mall, “The Grove,” exclaiming, “The voters of Los Angeles had spoken.” As it turns out, Caruso’s celebration might just be a short-lived victory tour.
But, less than a week later, as votes by mail, votes that voters walked into the polls, provisional ballots and uncounted votes continued to pour in, it was Karen Bass – who much like her entire political career – quietly, methodically, but with expert precision, slowly cut away at Caruso’s lead and now has completely turned the tables to be, as of Sentinel press time, the leading candidate for the mayor of Los Angeles!
On election night, Caruso had a 4% lead over Bass, (Caruso 42%, Bass 38%), but just five days later, it was looking like it was a dead heat with Caruso leading by less than 2% and on Tuesday, June 14, exactly one week later, Bass appears to have completed her comeback and is now leading Caruso by almost 4% (Bass 41%, Caruso 38.2%)
This complete turnaround demonstrates to many what Bass and other supporters exclaimed on election night - “That the position of mayor of Los Angeles cannot be bought, but must be earned with years of service, dedication and sacrifice to the people of Los Angeles!”
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Despite the estimated $38,000,000 that the Caruso campaign spent, much of it on advertising attacking Bass, her leadership, her character and her unquestionable lifelong service to all of Los Angeles cannot be tarnished or denied. But, Bass refused to go negative. She continued to be positive and promote and discuss with voters her very detailed plans for leading Los Angeles. Instead of accusations, she steadfastly addressed the many crises the city faces and her vision for dealing with the unhoused throughout Los Angeles and her commitment to create a better, stronger and safer Los Angeles. This message appears to be working.
Karen Bass, who at one time was up for consideration to join then-Democratic nominee and now President Joe Biden as his Vice Presidential running mate, is now running to make her mark on Los Angeles history as the first female elected mayor of the city of Los Angeles and only the second African American to lead the nation’s most populous city.
As one longtime supporter of Karen Bass exclaimed following the release of the June 14 voting numbers, “The people are still speaking and you can’t silence the people. That’s what Donald Trump tried to do. But people can’t forget what Karen said on election night.”
“We are in for the fight of our lives” is what Bass told her supporters after the first round of ballots had been counted. “But, people must remember we are fighting against a billionaire who will spend anything to control Los Angeles,” she declared.
The great thing is that we have shown we can win the battle, but we have to keep fighting/working/campaigning for Karen to ensure that we win the war!
