Karen Bass is the Projected Winner in LA’s Mayoral Race

Longtime LA politician Karen Bass is the projected winner to be elected as the first female mayor of Los Angeles. 

Bass was projected to defeat billionaire Rick Caruso, a real-estate mogul backed by Elon Musk, who pledged change in LA, according to NBC News.

Karen Bass and Caruso were in a statistical tie early in the race for mayor of LA after Caruso ponied up nearly $100 million to fund his campaign.

A week after Election Day, Bass proved victorious over her opponent. 

On election night, Bass and Caruso were in a dead heat, with results polling right down the middle: 50, 50. 

By Saturday, Bass had a slight lead over Caruso, with 52.15% of the votes.

Prior to the election, a poll by the LA Times and UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies revealed Bass had nabbed 45% of likely voters with Caruso taking 41%.

Bass will take the place of Mayor Eric Garcetti, who was tapped as President Joe Biden’s pick for ambassador to India.

The election comes weeks after LA City Council was tossed into upheaval over leaked audio recorded during a discussion over city redistricting. Then-president Nury Martinez, who has since stepped down, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo had a conversation that included racist slurs referring to the 2-year-old adopted Black son of Councilmember Mike Bonin.

On Tuesday, Alex Villanueva conceded as sheriff. Read more here.

Watch the entire final mayoral debate between candidates Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass. Candidates discussed issues of homelessness, crime, and the recent leaked comments of LA City Councilmembers. As seen on air Oct. 11, 2022.

Karen Bass

Bass has been a Democratic congresswoman since 2011. She grew up in the Venice/Fairfax area of Los Angeles.

In the 1990s, she helped gather a group of African-American and Latino community organizers to found Community Coalition, or CoCo, to help “transform the social and economic conditions in South Los Angeles.”

In 2008, she became the first Black woman in the U.S. to serve as speaker of a state legislative body as 67th speaker of the California State Assembly.

Bass has been endorsed by former President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Celebrities such as Danny Trejo, Alyssa Milano, John Legend, America Ferrera, Jane Fonda, Rosario Dawson, Ken Jeong, Dulé Hill and J.J. Abrams have endorsed Bass in her mayoral run.

Ballots are still being counted for the LA mayoral race but Karen Bass held an event thanking her supporters on Election Night. Beverly White reports for the NBC4 News on Nov. 8, 2022.

As ballots are still being counted and a winner has not been announced for LA’s mayoral race, candidate Rick Caruso holds a celebration in Fairfax thanking his supporters. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News on Nov. 8, 2022.

Bass and Caruso both agreed LA is in crisis over homelessness, and while both say they would declare a state of emergency, they have different ideas on how to tackle the problem.

For years now, the NBC4 I-Team has been holding politicians accountable for their promises to solve the homeless crisis in LA. With the mayoral election on the way, all eyes are on what Karen Bass and Rick Caruso plan to do to tackle the issue. Joel Grover reports for NBC4 News on Monday, Oct. 10, 2022.

Bass says she’ll focus on building permanent housing, and focus on addressing why they lost their housing to begin with.

Bass says she will also partner closely with LA County to add capacity to mental health and substance abuse systems.

Bass beat Caruso by nearly 8 percentage points in the June primary.

Results

Results will appear below as votes are being tallied.