Karen Bass Makes History as First Black Woman Elected Mayor of Los Angeles

American politician/United States Representative Karen Bass (D-CA) speaks onstage at the Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Karen Bass GOTV Rally Featuring US Senator Bernie Sanders hosted by California Working Families Party held at the Playa Vista Center — Photo by imagepressagency

Congresswoman Karen Bass has made history after winning the race to become the next mayor of Los Angeles.

The announcement came Wednesday evening following the latest vote count, which showed Bass with an insurmountable lead of nearly 50,000 votes over real estate developer Rick Caruso.

Numbers posted online by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office showed Bass with 403,427 votes compared to Caruso’s 356,849. That was a difference of 53.06 percent to 46.94 percent.

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Caruso led in early vote counts right after election night, but as more mail-in ballots were tallied, Bass pulled ahead.

The Congresswoman had the backing of the White House, former President Barack Obama, both of California’s U.S. senators, and many high-ranking Democrats across the state.

She vowed throughout the campaign that if elected, she would focus on addressing L.A.’s high rent prices and the city’s spiraling homelessness crisis — which saw 1,988 people die on the streets of the L.A. area between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021 — according to county officials.

After learning she had won the election, Bass posted a statement on social media vowing to bring change to the city, where the quality of life has deteriorated for many residents in recent years.

“To the people of our city, my message is this: We are going to solve homelessness. We are going to prevent and respond urgently to crime. Our city is no longer going to be unaffordable for working families. And know this — that work has already begun,” she tweeted.

In a follow-up tweet, Bass said she had received a “gracious” call from Caruso and added, “I am honored and humbled that the people have chosen me to be the next mayor of Los Angeles.”

Caruso, a former Republican who switched his party affiliation to Democrat earlier this year, won support from the union that represents LAPD officers and he made addressing rising crime a key part of his campaign.

He had the backing of celebrities, including Snoop Dogg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry, and Kim Kardashian. But as news stories surfaced saying Caruso previously donated to the campaigns of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell and former President George W. Bush, many residents in heavily Democratic L.A. said “no thanks” to the mayoral candidate.

The billionaire developer behind The Grove and other luxury Southern California shopping malls, spent more than $100 million — much of it from his own fortune — in the race to become mayor. The Los Angeles Times reported Caruso outspent Bass more than 11 to 1.

When Bass takes office, she will be the first woman to lead the nation’s second most populous city and only the second Black mayor after the late Tom Bradley, who served from 1973 to 1993.

Bass will replace embattled Mayor Eric Garcetti who is termed out of office.


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.

48 thoughts on “Karen Bass Makes History as First Black Woman Elected Mayor of Los Angeles

  1. More false promises by a Democrat Politician. Ms Bass knows her promises will soon be forgotten, homelessness will worsen. Oh well, Democrat Politicians are elected on their “GOOD INTENTIONS” but never held accountable by the Legacy mainstream media.

  2. What a fraud this is.
    The new mayor is the same as the old mayor.
    There won’t be anything done but more of the same.
    Not good. Nothing to celebrate and the dishonest media knows it .

    1. Here’s the weird thing…..VOTE her OUT and things will change! Whats so hard for LA, CA to understand?. Want shit? Vote shit! Want prosperity? VOTE Prosperity!!!

    2. Over 3 million eligible voters…and about 700,000 cast a vote….hardly a resounding number of people who think there’s hope…..get out Ed while you can…

  3. Send the homeless south of the Border, then have them come back, and they will be taken care of, and given a home.

    1. The “homeless” want to be homeless. The best plan is bring in the bulldozers and start clearing off the trashy encampments. Need to chase these homeless out of State, perhaps send them to Martha’s Vineyard?

  4. Same story, different election: Republicans leads on Election Day, and then Democrats keep counting until they win.

    Democrats spent months claiming US democracy was under threat from “Maga Republicans,” when in actuality it was the Democrats doing the threatening with their crooked electioneering. Things are about to get bumpy.

    1. The hallmark of Socialists, from Marx to Engels to Trotsky, Stalin and Mao, Ho Chi Min and Pol Pot, Che and Fidel, Chavez and Maduro, The Clintons, Obama and now Biden, the DNC, Pelosi, Shumer and most of the corporate media, is that they always (ALWAYS) accuse their opposition of exactly the behaviors they themselves intend or are already engaged in.

    2. Just like Chico Marx said to Uncle Miltie when he was in a measuring contest… “just take out enough to win”…. Democrats count votes until they just have enough to win.

    3. You’d rather they stop counting when the Republicans are ahead and toss the rest of the unopened ballots?

      1. @Mary:

        For most of modern American history, elections were decided on Election Day; somehow, previous generations were able to count all ballots within hours of the polls closing. Now, all of a sudden we’re unable to do what we have done for the last two hundred years, and despite advances in technology, it takes days to determine who won an election. Why is that?

        Here’s an interesting statistic: Whenever it takes more than a day to announce the results of an election, Democrats win 70+% of the time.

  5. It appears that the LA I grew up in is long gone and never coming back. Good luck to those folks still there.

  6. Where’s the popcorn? This shitshow should be way more entertaining than Yellowstone as we see just one more politician make a donkey? out of herself. Maybe she is going to put them all up in five-star hotels in downtown L.A. Last city I want to visit.

  7. I left Los Angeles about 30 years ago. I still.followwhat’s going on and the trick to.cutr any problem, is to identify the single point of failure and the source. I am see two things: Mental illness and the lack of good paying jobs.

    Maybe a possibile solution starts with vagrancy laws? Punishment would come in the form learning a trade, leading to the construction of working on public housing projects?

    This would require union buy in and program sponsorship.

    That could be the possible starting point?

      1. Sounds very much like Eric Adams said about crime during his campaign. Nothing has happened. Homelessness in LA is so bad the only way to combat it is a tax increase.

    1. Public housing? Like Pruitt–Igoe or Cabrini Green or any of the New Your Housing Authority projects? When has public housing not made things worse? If you don’t have a stake in your housing you don’t have motivation to maintain and improve it.

      You are correct that enforcing vagrancy laws would be a good first start. Then enforce all the other laws that have worked in the past such as drug laws. If you make something easy and free you will just create more demand for it.

    2. Except for the fact that the trades don’t want junkies on their jobsites. They steal tools and break into the cars of the guys actually working. They do drugs in the restrooms and can never be found working. They don’t care about their safety or anyone else. They are liabilities we don’t need or want.

  8. just two things that really stood out, “We are going to solve homelessness. We are going to prevent and respond urgently to crime. Our city is no longer going to be unaffordable for working families.” talk about making promises you can keep, that’s number one. then there’s this, “Caruso, a former Republican who switched his party affiliation to Democrat is The billionaire developer behind The Grove and other luxury shopping malls, spent more than $100 million — much of it from his own fortune — in the race to become mayor.” one has to ask themselves what makes a job like being Mayor worth spending that much of your own money!!!!!!!

  9. So let’s see here, the entire state of California is one giant shit hole, and it has been run for
    decades by….wait for it….Democrats. And this one woman is going to not fight homelessness
    in LA, she’s not going to reduce homelessness, she’s going to SOLVE homelessness (see
    paragraph 8). Well, like judge Smails in Caddyshack said, we’re waiting.

  10. “Solve homelessness, prevent crime, affordable city …” – worthy goals, but how?

    If by anti-free market, anti-police, high tax and other extreme left “progressive” schemes, don’t expect success.

  11. “All we need to do is spend a few trillion on it!” signed, the previous 10 presidential administrations.

  12. Just a minute……I’m looking at all the successful American cities run by black women……..

  13. Uh no, and it’s painfully obvious what’s happening when every close election has a result in favor of a Democrat due to ballots counted after Election Day. Because you’re a Democrat, you see no issue with this at all. Despicable, despicable people. All of you.

  14. When a progressive say they’re going to solve a problem, WATCH OUT! They are the masters of unintended consequences. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

  15. You cant fix homelessness until you fix all mental health and addiction, most of these people do not want a home, or a shelter or any structure. Sure you can help those displaced by economic issues, but that is a minority of the real homeless people. Dont lie to the citizens, you cant solve this issue, but then politicians dont want to solve a problem just use it to get re-elected.

  16. Writing is on the wall. 45 year resident of LA, Business owner and home owner. It is time to plan my exit. The shipping is sinking and it cannot be saved. Abandon Ship.

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