Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday endorsed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for re-election.
Harris said in a statement, “Mayor Karen Bass is the leader Los Angeles needs right now. She has done what many said couldn’t be done – led to the first-ever two-year decline in homelessness, reduced crime to levels this city hasn’t seen since the 1960s, and refused to back down when the federal government came after our neighbors.” “He has my full support for re-election.”
The endorsement comes as ballots begin arriving in Californians’ mailboxes at a crucial moment in the race to lead the nation’s second-largest city. Although Bass leads in the polls, he is viewed unfavorably by many Angelenos due to his perceived lack of leadership after the devastating Palisades fire.
A March poll conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found a quarter of voters supported Bass. City Council member Nithya Raman had support of 17%, and conservative reality TV star Spencer Pratt had support of 14%. A quarter of voters were undecided.
Although Bass led the other major mayoral candidates, political strategists say the numbers are troubling for the incumbent because she is facing off against lesser-known rivals and because 56% viewed her unfavorably. And Pratt and Raman had raised more money than Bass through April 18 this year, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the city’s Ethics Commission. However, Bass had about $2.3 million in the bank since he began raising money for re-election two years earlier.
Although Bass and Harris were rivals to be selected as presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020, the two Democrats have known each other for more than two decades and have a long shared history. Bass was sworn in by Harris as the 43rd mayor of Los Angeles in 2022. Two years later, at the Democratic National Convention where Harris became the party’s presidential nominee, Bass spoke about working with her on youth homelessness and overhauling the child welfare system more than a decade ago, when Bass led the California Assembly and Harris was a state prosecutor.
Harris also endorsed Rob Bonta for re-election as State Attorney General, Malia Cohen for re-election as State Comptroller, and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis for State Treasurer. Here’s a look at those races and the rest on the ballot.
