Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass officially launches reelection campaign
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass launched a bid for a second term Saturday, vowing to make the city more affordable while taking swipes at leadership in the federal government.
During a rally in downtown LA on Saturday, Bass thanked supporters for their attendance at the end of a "hell of a year."
"Angelenos, the city I've been in my whole life, the city I love, I feel we have accomplished a lot," she said. "But we're not done. And I'm not finished."
Bass has served as mayor since 2022. In her tenure, she's taken action on the city's housing crisis and sought an expansion of the Los Angeles Police Department.
The mayor oversaw the response to the devastating wildfires earlier this year. She's often sparred with President Donald Trump over the highly visible immigration enforcement operations taking place since the summer and the subsequent deployment of National Guard troops across the city, which was blocked by a federal judge earlier this week.
During her speech Saturday, Bass mostly refrained from naming Mr. Trump but on numerous occasions commented on her defense of the city against attacks from "3,000 miles away."
"We fought before and we're going to fight again," she said. "Who would've imagined that we would have to defend ourselves from our very own government?"
Bass, 72, was born and raised in LA and had stints in the state assembly and U.S. House of Representatives before her tenure as mayor.
She's facing challenges from Deputy Director of Housing Now California Rae Huang, longtime city engineer Asaad Alnajjar and most notably former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner, who previously supported Bass, but said she wasn't addressing the problems of average LA residents.
"I've known [Bass] a long time. I supported her," Beutner said in an interview with CBS LA in October. "She did a great job in Congress. She was effective in the Assembly. Mayor is a different job ... It's time we change."
As of Saturday, it's not clear if more candidates will enter the race.
The LA mayoral election is scheduled for June 2 of next year, with a potential runoff on Nov. 3 if no candidate reaches a majority of votes.
