Rick Caruso

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and billionaire local developer Rick Caruso are likely headed to a November run-off election for the Los Angeles mayoralty.

And I think people will be attracted to Rick because of the clarity of his message.” The other candidate’s message is not clear enough.” In a two-candidate field, Caruso will likely face a brighter spotlight in deep-blue Los Angeles on his history of conservative politics. (Katzenberg, in return, derided him as “too thin-skinned and temperamental to serve as our mayor.”) Other industry Bass backers run from Donald Glover, Magic Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross to Octavia Spencer, Jennifer Garner, Yvette Nicole Brown, Michael Eisner, director-producer Phil Lord and Tiffany Haddish, who previously told THR she admired Bass’ work with foster youth and the unhoused. Sures, the co-president of UTA, told THR — as early results were trickling in — of Caruso’s showing that, “I think the campaign is thrilled that he started at 6% and it’s now at north of 40%. There’s a way to go [in the general election]. I think the difference is that Rick has such a clear message. Gascon’s opponents are mounting an aggressive direct-mail drive to collect the required signatures by July 6 to get the recall on the ballot. His nomination to become U.S. Ambassador to India has been held for months in the Senate over allegations he knew about (and didn’t properly address) a top aide’s sexual misconduct. He’s been a member or president of several city commissions and long toyed with seeking the mayoralty. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and billionaire local developer Rick Caruso are headed to a November run-off election for the Los Angeles mayoralty after the Associated Press called the race on Tuesday night. A win by Caruso, an outsider to elected politics known for fashioning idealized urban environments (he cites Walt Disney as a key influence), would mark a rare renunciation of the city’s liberal Democratic political establishment. Far trickier will be appealing to independents while not alienating her left flank, which has already bridled at her policy plans for ending homeless encampments and hiring more LAPD officers. L.A. City Council member Kevin de León, a former president pro tempore of the California state, lagged in third place.

Mr. Caruso, a billionaire developer who recently left the Republican Party to become a Democrat, will face off against Ms. Bass, a liberal congresswoman, ...

“I have faith in him, a lot of faith,” she said, citing his Roman Catholic beliefs as a reason for her conviction. Ms. Bass, the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was on President Biden’s shortlist as a possible vice president. Mr. Caruso has dismissed criticism from organizations like Planned Parenthood and insists he supports “a woman’s right to choose.” This year’s races could tip the balance of power in Congress to Republicans, hobbling President Biden’s agenda for the second half of his term. Instead, Mr. Caruso and his supporters liken him to Michael R. Bloomberg, another party-switching billionaire who won three terms as mayor of New York. Much of the sprawling region is controlled by the six members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, who oversee a $38.5 billion budget. His campaign spent nearly $41 million, including $39 million of his own money, much of it on television, digital and radio ads that seemed to blanket the airwaves in recent weeks, portraying him as a successful businessman who could “clean up” Los Angeles. Casting himself as an outsider, Mr. Caruso has blamed career politicians, including Ms. Bass, for the city’s ills. The message has resonated among voters who are deeply frustrated with homeless encampments throughout the city, visible on residential sidewalks, nestled in parks and sprawling under freeway overpasses. A victory for Mr. Caruso would be a significant shift in this overwhelmingly liberal city, where Senator Bernie Sanders easily won the Democratic presidential primary two years ago. “We are not helpless in the face of our problems,” he said, flanked by his wife and their four children. “Not with empty promises from the past but with a bold path forward.”

The winner of the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor will succeed Eric Garcetti, who was nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to India.

So instead of picking from the pack of contenders, Tapia decided to write in a candidate: himself. Bass has promised a comprehensive approach to homelessness, working to house 15,000 by the end of her first year in office and end encampments that have spread across the city. Throughout the campaign, Caruso and Bass led the pack of 12 candidates by a landslide. He aims to end street homelessness, would declare a state of emergency over the crisis and touted a goal to build 30,000 housing units in 300 days, many of which would be shelter beds. Bass also touts more investment in youth programs and a variety of measures she says aims to tackle the cycle of violence and crime in the city. Bass, 68, heralded her Los Angeles roots, working as a community organizer during the crack epidemic in the 1980s and 1990s. “You can't force somebody to live a good life,” he said. He attracted voters with promises to be tougher on crime and attacks on the bureaucratic systems that he says are too slow to successfully alleviate the city's homelessness crisis. Both candidates will appear on the November ballot for the general election, where voters will also be tasked with deciding on a number of other races, including governor, Senate and House seats. “I want it to go to a runoff. Throughout the day, people filed into polling locations across the city to cast their ballots. He was torn between Bass and Caruso.

Rep. Karen Bass and real estate developer Rick Caruso were the top two vote-getters in Los Angeles' primary election for mayor on Tuesday night, ...

But the general election in November could prove much tougher for Caruso to crack. Bass received some backlash from progressive Democrats who took issue with her more moderate stances, including a campaign promise to add more police to the streets of Los Angeles. When the race was called around 10 p.m., Caruso had 41 percent of the vote and Bass had 38 percent.

(Updated with Jeffrey Katzenberg statement) The top two Los Angeles races in today's primary election look to have both kicked the can down over to November ...

Breaking a barrier or two, Bass would be the first female Mayor of LA if elected, as well as the second African-American mayor in the history of the nation’s second largest city. In the greater spotlight of November, with the balance of power in Congress on the line, Bass is expected to benefit from greater voter turnout, especially among the working class. “What we saw tonight is how a Republican, billionaire, developer bully failed to buy the voters of LA with his $40 million war chest,” the WndrCo founder told Deadline. “He can spend another $100 million in the runoff and voters will not be hoodwinked,” Katzenberg went on to assert. Bass, who built a community coalition in South Los Angeles, became speaker of the State Assembly and was elected to Congress in 2010, has stressed her experience in working the levers of power and bureaucracy to implement realistic solutions. Other races were seen a barometer of a post-pandemic shift toward the middle in progressive urban areas. The president will also be seeking to get his message to a wider than cable news audience with an in-studio appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! soon after Air Force One lands at LAX. Bass (D-CA), who Joe Biden considered as a vice presidential pick in 2020, has drawn the support of figures such as Jeffrey Katzenberg, who has helped bankroll and independent expenditure committee to boost her candidacy. Tuesday’s primary also had a handful of other races to watch. Based on early results, Rep. Karen Bass and developer Rick Caruso will face-off in a runoff election in six months, as neither Democrat garnered more 50% of vote to win outright their bid to be Los Angeles’ next mayor. In his own speech tonight, Caruso spoke of a “great awakening” from Tuesday’s results. Like Bass and spendthrift Caruso, the once progressive Villanueva, who is now a frequent Fox News talking head, looks to have failed to get more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday’s primary ballot. Despite initial figures indicating much lower-then-anticipated turnout, there were some reports of an uptick in voters dropping off ballots and casting votes in the final hours before polls closed.

Rep. Karen Bass and billionaire developer Rick Caruso will move on from California's primary and face off in November to serve as Los Angeles' next mayor.

In California's primary system, the candidates appear on the same ballot and the top two winners move on to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. Pushing back, Caruso told Variety two weeks ago that he's "the farthest thing from Donald Trump and everybody knows that. Caruso is a pro-business billionaire developer who’s running a law-and-order type campaign.

Run-off election in November will be dominated by debate over rising crime and homelessness.

Real estate developer Rick Caruso leads Rep. Karen Bass in Tuesday's primary for Los Angeles mayor, with both set to go toe-to-toe in a November runoff.

Bass pledged to provide housing for 15,000 people during her first year in office. Caruso has vowed to find shelter for 30,000 homeless residents in his first year in office. The November 7 runoff will decide how Angelenos want to fix a worsening quality of life. He said he was merely trying to level the playing field, competing against politicians who’d been getting attention for years while working on the taxpayers’ dime. City Councilman Kevin de León trails at 7.5 percent, with about a third of the expected votes tallied, the Los Angeles Times reported. The billionaire mall builder spent $41 million of his own money on the campaign.