Rep. Karen Bass Defeats Billionaire Rick Caruso

Topline

Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) beat billionaire real estate tycoon Rick Caruso in Los Angeles’ mayoral election, staving off a surprisingly competitive challenge from a tough-on-crime former Republican whose infusion of millions to his campaign nearly swung the race.

Rep. Karen Bass will be the next mayor of Los Angeles.

The Washington Post via Getty Images

Key Facts

The Associated Press called the race for Bass on Wednesday, just over a week after the election, with roughly 75% of total votes counted.

Bass will be the first woman to serve as Los Angeles mayor, and will replace outgoing two-term mayor Eric Garcetti, a Democrat whom President Joe Biden nominated to serve as ambassador to India.

On the campaign trail, Bass latched onto Caruso for only registering as a Democrat in January and supported progressive public safety measures, though also she resisted calls to cut the Los Angeles Police Department’s budget and advocated for moving more officers from desk jobs to patrol.

A long-time Republican, Caruso ran on a platform largely focused on reducing crime and homelessness, vowing to drastically expand the city’s police force and declare a state of emergency to address homelessness.

Big Number

$99 million. That’s how much Caruso raised, according to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, almost entirely in personal loans taken out by the billionaire. Bass raised a comparatively meager $9.7 million.

Key Background

Though Bass’ pockets are far shallower than Caruso’s, she has at least five billionaire backers, including legendary director Steven Spielberg and longtime Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg. Billionaires David Murdock and Don Hankey contributed to Caruso’s campaign. Bass has represented California in Congress since 2011, previously chairing the Congressional Black Caucus, while Caruso has not previously held an elected position. Bass secured 43% of votes in June’s primary, compared to Caruso’s 36%, setting up last week’s runoff as neither candidate won an outright majority, and the most recent polls showed the two candidates in a dead heat. Most of Caruso’s previous political donations have gone to Republicans, according to OpenSecrets, giving $245,000 to a PAC supporting John Kasich’s 2016 presidential run and about $250,000 to the California Republican Party in 2005 and 2006, though he donated $60,000 to Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) in 2018 and about $100,000 to the state’s then Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown a decade ago.

Forbes Valuation

We estimate Caruso to be worth $5.3 billion, making him the 481st wealthiest person in the world. Dubbed the “Walt Disney of Retail” in a 2018 Forbes story, Caruso largely amassed his fortune through his shopping centers, owning some of the most successful malls in the country, including The Grove in Los Angeles.

Tangent

The world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk endorsed Caruso in June, citing his billionaire compatriot’s “executive competence” and “moderate” politics. Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, has pleaded several times for voters to back Republicans in midterm elections, despite prior promises to keep his newly-acquired social network Twitter free of political bias. Caruso also received endorsements from billionaire influencer Kim Kardashian and rapper Snoop Dogg, while Bass also boasted a long list of celebrity backers, including former President Barack Obama and singer John Legend.