After gaining on Rick Caruso since the ballots began being tallied in the race for Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass took over the lead in Friday afternoon’s latest update.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk posted the current count — 4:09 p.m. Friday — with Bass having collected 289,782 votes to Caruso’s 285,398, for a lead of 50.38% to 49.62%.
Hundreds of thousands of ballots still remain uncounted, however, and a winner might not be determined for days or even weeks. Further updates will be announced every Tuesday and Friday until all ballots are tallied.
Sarah Leonard Sheahan, Bass’ communications director, said in a statement after Thursday’s results that the campaign was confident Bass would eventually prevail.
“In the coming days, the voice of the people of Los Angeles will be heard and we feel confident that we will win,” Sheahan said.
“As predicted, this is a close race,” Caruso said. “There are hundreds of thousands of votes to count and as expected we are going to see different results each time. I continue to be cautiously optimistic about these numbers and look forward to the next series of results in the coming weeks.”
Bass, a six-term member of Congress, is seeking to become the first woman and only the second Black person to lead Los Angeles. Caruso, a billionaire developer, is looking to win a campaign that’s on track to spend over $100 million — much of it from Caruso’s own fortune — to propel him into contention.
The winner will inherit leadership of a city grappling with a scandal that has embroiled City Hall for the past month, after three council members and a top county labor official took part in a leaked conversation in October 2021 that included racist comments and attempts to manipulate redistricting.
Ballot harvesting is alive and well in LA county. Sad – more of the same with Bass and the destruction of middle family class.
Ok kari lake. Thanks gurl.
I would had chosen Bass (if I Lived in City of LA) UNTIL I FOUND OUT ABOUT HER SCIENTOLOGY MEMBERSHIP.
Call it a cult, call it a Religion
IT’S STILL A DANGEROUS CULT no matter what people call it.
There seems to be no evidence that Karen Bass was ever a member of Scientology. There is I believe a Scientology facility within her district. It is fair to believe she may not have had and depth of knowledge about their philosophy or protocols.
if Karen Bass were a scientologist she would be a much better leader – there is almost no drugs or crime near any scientology church –
I certainly hope that the counting continues and hope that HE prevails. She is old politics as usual. It is obvious why folks are voting for HER. SAD indeed. So disappointing that so many people are hood winked to make this mistake IF AND I REPEAT IF SHE WINS. MASS IGNORANCE. GIANT MISTAKE!
I would like to see Karen Bass as mayor. I would like to see Rick Caruso remain as he has been: a GOP, rich guy who builds malls.
Bass’s lead will only grow now that they are counting mail ins. Caruso and his 100mil are dunno. Go back to ur overpriced malls and leave politics alone. Republican failure
Karen Bass for the win and then she can appoint Rick Caruso as chief builder to create a project for the homeless out in the desert which can be a Caruso World Class Concierge Homeless Facility with Housing, Medical, Mental and Regenerative services to create skilled individuals that can become employable. That would be a task he should be proud of. Real service to the city he loves.
I agree that Caruso would make an excellent Mayor because he is a business man, NOT a career politician. Business people have to make decisions every single day to solve problems. Career politicians just like spending money on their favorite pet projects. None of the Mayors in the past have impressed me in the LA area in the last 20 years that I have lived here. And yes, the decisions that the Mayors make to improve LA or look the other way & ignore the problems, DOES affect WeHo! Let’s hope that he squeaks by and that the cheaters don’t… Read more »
Well, if this contest ends as predicted, your hero is a BUSINESS MAN who spent $100 million just to lose to a woman who spent about $6 million. So instead of hero-worshipping any right wing BUSINESS MAN in front of you, then maybe you should look for BUSINESS MEN who are actually better at the business they are conducting. This will be the second election in which Karen Bass has thoroughly outplayed Rick Corrupto.
Yup. If he loses, then LA has lost its chance for real change. It will be just more of the same if not worse.
That’s absurd. Real change? How? By turning all of LA into The Grove? Caruso unfortunately is more of the same In a bigger way. Out of control developers who not only care nothing for the quality of our lives but the history and essence of lA. No thanks.
Caruso has the skills and experience to put LA into a positive direction more than Bass . He put his own money into showing his goals and met all people of the city. Bass used party politics to get her message out which sometimes changed to mimic his goals. These are crucial times – we can’t pick someone because they smile in pics -we need a track record.
Yeah that always works out so well. The same excuse was used for trump. Caruso has never built any affordable housing or cared one whit about the homeless. Billionaire developers are the problem.
a 12,000+ vote lead is more than a ‘few thousand.’ Here’s hoping his lead only grows. She has zero plans to clean this city up and said she can’t get the homeless issue under control in the next 4 years. He at least has an ambitious plan. I have not seen a street sweeper in over 2 years on my street. Trash just everywhere.
That’s not what she says at all.
Bass represents more of the same. She’s been part of the current political regime that has done nothing to improve things and only has make things worse. I’m all for somebody that’s got a different approach. Hoping Caruso wins so he gets the opportunity to act on his promises to clean up Los Angeles and make it safer.
Another wolf in sheep’s clothing distracting the public with bright shiny objects and promises, promises, promises. Self interest writ large similar to someone else who bought his way in using a similar strategy.
It’s all in the counting now……..
And the alternative is to go with somebody who promises us nothing? She’s been part of the existing political structure that has controlled the city for years. I for one do not want more of the same old same old. Caruso may be promising things he can’t deliver on, but I’m willing to give somebody with a different approach a shot.
That’s absurd. This city is now run by developers and corrupt council members. Caruso is only part of that problem.