The mayor of Los Angeles is facing an election battle from the city’s left wing

from Dan WaltersCalMatters

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The ever-changing array of political figures vying to become California’s next governor have a counterpart in the game of musical political chairs being played in Los Angeles to elect a mayor.

In a way, this shouldn’t be surprising, because Los Angeles, population 3.9 million, is a microcosm of California and its many daunting socioeconomic, cultural and political problems.

In fact, as I described in a 2008 book chapter, The New Political Geography of Californiathe rapid transformation of Los Angeles and the surrounding area from decades of semi-conservative political orientation into a blue bastion in the 1990s was a major factor in California’s overall metamorphosis.

The end of the Cold War, which destroyed Southern California’s defense industry, growing immigration from Latin America and Asia, and the development of a strong labor movement contributed to the city’s leftward movement.

Thus, the issues facing the next governor — such as high housing, utility and other needs, homelessness, unsafe water supplies, lagging educational achievement, the wildfire epidemic, insurance gaps and budget deficits — also affect Los Angeles and its mayor.

The current mayor, former state legislator and Congresswoman Karen Bass, has shown a remarkable penchant for political self-destruction.

A year ago, Bass went on a trip to Africa with Los Angeles facing the threat of devastating wildfires that have become a terrifying reality. More recently, the Los Angeles Times revealed that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s report on the fires was watered down to protect the bureaucracy from criticism and that Bass was complicit in the revisions.

Citing sources, Times reporters wrote that Bass “wants key findings about the LAFD’s actions removed or toned down before the report is released.”

These lapses in judgment should have been fatal to Bass’s re-election, but one by one, potentially formidable opponents dropped out.

At first, businessman Rick Caruso, who had run a credible campaign against Bass in 2022, seemed like a likely candidate, sharply criticizing Bass for her handling of the city’s worst emergency. It also weighs challenge her or run for governorbut ultimately decided against both.

Austin Beutner, a former Los Angeles schools superintendent and onetime chief executive of the Los Angeles Times, announced his candidacy and then withdrew, citing the recent death of his 22-year-old daughter.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath briefly considered getting involved after Caruso and Beutner dropped out, but backed out, seemingly giving Bass the luxury of being re-elected without a potentially powerful opponent.

However, on Saturday, just three hours before the deadline, City Councilor Nithya Raman announced her candidacy.

Raman, one of the council’s most left-leaning members, a progressive in the mold of New York City Mayor Zochran Mamdani, had previously endorsed Bass when it appeared she would face a relatively conservative opponent. However, with the field almost clear, she decided to see if Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest city, could go Gotham’s way.

“I have a deep respect for Mayor Bass,” Raman told the Los Angeles Times. “We’ve worked closely together on my biggest priorities and her biggest priorities, and there’s a significant alignment there. But in the last few months in particular, I’ve really started to feel like unless we make some big changes in the way we do things in Los Angeles, the things we rely on aren’t going to work anymore.”

Given Bass’ low in the polls because of his missteps in the firestorm, Raman poses a serious threat to the mayor’s re-election bid and could force the business community and critics like Caruso and Beutner to help Bass fend off a challenge from the left.

The Los Angeles mayoral race could surpass the gubernatorial race and become the most interesting and important race of the year.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.