LA Times backs Bass in Los Angeles mayoral race

The Los Angeles Times editorial board said on Thursday that it would be endorsing Rep. Karen Bass over fellow Democratic Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso with less than a month until Election Day.

The editorial board, which had backed Bass during the primary, said that it would continue doing so, noting her work both in the California State Assembly and in Congress. The newspaper also noted how Bass was trying to engage with the community after a leaked audio found three Los Angeles City Council members making racist statements, rocking the city.

“Bass is already doing the work of trying to repair the damage caused by leaked racist, us-versus-them remarks by Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, made in a private meeting last year with L.A. County Federation of Labor leader Ron Herrera,” the editorial board wrote. 

“She convened a meeting Tuesday for community leaders and elected officials to begin airing concerns raised by the recording and to strengthen the multiracial coalitions that could be fractured by the scandal. The city’s leaders cannot work together to fix problems without trust, understanding and a common mission.”

The newspaper also argued that Bass demonstrated the ability to toe the line with members of her party, including when she worked on policing reform in Congress and making cuts to education and social programs for which she had previously advocated amid the Great Recession.

Bass thanked the newspaper for its endorsement on Twitter.

The Los Angeles mayoral runoff is down to Bass and Caruso after neither was able to notch an outright victory by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote in the nonpartisan June primary.

A Times-sponsored poll from the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies out earlier this month showed Bass leading Caruso 34 to 31 percent among registered voters, though it falls within the margin of error.

The endorsement comes just days after the Times recently broke a story that three members of the Los Angeles City Council had made racist or derogatory comments about their colleagues, their colleagues’ children and other California officials.

Martinez resigned from her position on the City Council in addition to her seat; however, several other members have remained on the council.