With voters in a sour mood after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a seemingly intractable homelessness crisis and increased gun violence, the vote was viewed as a referendum on whether Los Angeles would stick with the liberal Democratic leadership that has been in charge for most of the last half-century.
As the early front-runner in the campaign and a longtime Democratic officeholder, Bass campaigned as a coalition builder who could leverage her connections in Sacramento and Washington to bring more resources to L.A.
Caruso, a onetime Republican turned Democrat, pledged to shake up the status quo and make City Hall more efficient, while hiring substantially more police and moving rapidly to clear away homeless encampments.
The stark choice animated some voters but hardly galvanized the larger electorate, as early vote totals showed only about 18% of Los Angeles voters had cast ballots. Final results will trickle in, as mail-in ballots postmarked by election day will be accepted for one more week.
The 63-year-old Caruso, waging his first campaign for public office, showed signs of the high emotion surrounding the campaign after casting his ballot Tuesday afternoon in Boyle Heights, where his Italian immigrant grandparents settled after moving west from Pennsylvania.
https://www.latimes.com/california/...mayor-election-karen-bass-rick-caruso-results
As the early front-runner in the campaign and a longtime Democratic officeholder, Bass campaigned as a coalition builder who could leverage her connections in Sacramento and Washington to bring more resources to L.A.
Caruso, a onetime Republican turned Democrat, pledged to shake up the status quo and make City Hall more efficient, while hiring substantially more police and moving rapidly to clear away homeless encampments.
The stark choice animated some voters but hardly galvanized the larger electorate, as early vote totals showed only about 18% of Los Angeles voters had cast ballots. Final results will trickle in, as mail-in ballots postmarked by election day will be accepted for one more week.
The 63-year-old Caruso, waging his first campaign for public office, showed signs of the high emotion surrounding the campaign after casting his ballot Tuesday afternoon in Boyle Heights, where his Italian immigrant grandparents settled after moving west from Pennsylvania.
https://www.latimes.com/california/...mayor-election-karen-bass-rick-caruso-results
