Los Angeles, CA Mayor: Billionaire developer Rick Caruso declared Friday that he was joining this year’s open seat race to succeed termed-out Mayor Eric Garcetti as leader of America’s second-most populous city, an announcement that came one day before candidate filing closed. If the U.S. Senate confirms Garcetti as ambassador to India the Los Angeles City Council would be able to choose someone to serve as mayor for the final months of his term, though it would be a huge surprise if it picked one of the candidates.
Caruso, who has developed some of Southern California’s most prominent malls, has never run for office before, though he previously served as chair of the USC Board of Trustees and on the Los Angeles Police Commission. He also recently changed his voter registration from unaffiliated to Democratic, a move that came almost a decade after he left the GOP, and he now describes himself as a "pro-centrist, pro-jobs, pro-public safety Democrat."
Caruso joins a field that includes four elected officials, all of whom identify as Democrats, in the June 7 nonpartisan primary; in the very likely event that no one takes a majority of the vote, the top-two vote-getters would advance to the November general election. The frontrunner at this point is arguably Rep. Karen Bass, who ended 2021 with the most money available and has plenty of state and national connections, though no one has released any polls since she entered the race in September. Bass would be first woman elected to lead Los Angeles, as well as its second African American mayor following the legendary Tom Bradley.
Another familiar name is City Councilmember Kevin de León, a longtime labor ally and former state Senate leader who challenged Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein from the left in 2018 and lost 54-46 statewide. (Feinstein carried the city 59-41.) De León, whose parents emigrated from Guatemala, is also the only serious Latino candidate in a city where just under half the population is Latino.
City Attorney Mike Feuer is also in, but while he’s the only citywide elected official in the contest, he had considerably less money than any of his rivals going into the new year. Part of his problem may be the ongoing scandal based around allegations that his office concealed evidence in a long running scandal involving over-billing by the Department of Power and Water. The candidate, says the Los Angeles Times, has not been accused of wrongdoing by federal investigators and the story hasn’t been mentioned much on the campaign trail, but it’s continued to generate unwanted headlines for him: Just last month, one of Feuer’s former top subordinates agreed to plead guilty for abetting extortion.
Finally there’s City Councilman Joe Buscaino who, while also a Democrat, has tacked to the right of most of his opponents. The city councilman, who has made banning homeless encampments in public areas a centerpiece of his campaign, quickly sought to tie Caruso to Los Angeles County’s progressive district attorney, George Gascón. Caruso in 2020 had co-hosted a fundraiser for Gascón’s successful campaign to unseat incumbent Jackie Lacey, and while he went on to donate $45,000 to a pro-Lacey group, Buscaino argued voters “should be deeply concerned about Mr. Caruso’s commitment to public safety.”
The field also includes 22 other candidates including businessman Ramit Varma, a conservative who has self-funded $1.5 million so far, and real estate broker Mel Wilson, a former Metro board member who hasn’t brought in much money.