Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass "wasn't surprised" by challenge from former LAUSD superintendent
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says it's her "job to talk about" her successes in office as the first major challenger to her reelection race has entered the picture.
In an interview with CBS LA's Ross Palombo on Sunday morning, Bass said the emergence of former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner was something she'd considered a possibility for months.
"Actually, it wasn't a surprise," she said. "Anybody is a challenge [in an election], but it's my job to talk about what we've done successfully and how much more we have to go."
On homelessness
Bass defended her record on homelessness and said her focus on getting people off of the streets has shown improvements since she took office in December 2022.
"What my focus has been, has been on street homelessness and encampments," she said. "Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard were draped in very large encampments. Those are all gone."
This summer's 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, as Bass pointed out, found a decrease by 4% in the amount of people experiencing homelessness in the county over the last year. However, the count has prominent critics, including Beutner.
During his own interview with Palombo on Sunday, Beutner cited a recent report from thinktank RAND which claims thousands of homeless individuals may have been missed in an undercount.
"We all know [homelessness] is up because we see it," he said. "It's a humanitarian crisis."
Bass acknowledged that the homeless count "needs improvement" but said she doesn't believe that the homeless count is growing, as Beutner claims.
On the Trump administration
Much of 2025 for Bass has been focused on an ongoing rift with the Trump administration over immigration enforcement operations and President Trump's decision to send National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
"Our city was under assault from the federal government and it was important that we stood up," Bass said, while adding that LA was the first American city to be under target from the administration, which has now sent troops to Washington D.C., Chicago, Memphis and Portland, with Mr. Trump now considering San Francisco.
On Monday, Bass publicly called for a federal investigation into the alleged detainment of U.S. citizens and immigrants during the raids, which she called "unlawful" and "unconstitutional." The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in September that immigration enforcement officers could use factors like a person's race or occupation as the basis for a detentive stop.
Beutner on Sunday said Mr. Trump has focused on LA partly because "we are not addressing our problems."
"That's when people like Donald Trump and his administration come in to our community and say 'well, if you're that rudderless, I'll come in.' We shouldn't be rudderless."
Beutner's interview with Palombo can be found here.