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Mayoral election in Los Angeles, California (2022)

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2017
2022 Los Angeles elections
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Election dates
Filing deadline: March 9, 2022
Primary election: June 7, 2022
General election: November 8, 2022
Election stats
Offices up: Mayor
Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections)
Election type: Nonpartisan
Other municipal elections
U.S. municipal elections, 2022

Karen Bass defeated Rick Caruso in the nonpartisan general election for mayor of Los Angeles, California, on November 8, 2022. The candidates advanced from the June 7 primary election since neither received 50% of the vote. Incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti could not run for re-election due to term limits.

Bass was first elected to public office in 2004 to serve in the California State Assembly. She served in the Assembly from 2005 to 2010 and was speaker from 2008 to 2010. Bass was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and represented California's 37th Congressional District at the time of the mayoral election.[1] In a campaign ad, Bass said, "I’m running for mayor to meet today’s challenges: crime, homelessness, and the soaring cost of housing."[2]

Caruso was the founder and chief executive officer of a retail complex development company.[3] He also served on Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power Commission, as the president of Los Angeles’ Police Commission, and on the USC Board of Trustees.[4] In a campaign ad, Caruso said, "I’m running for mayor because the city we love is in a state of emergency: rampant homelessness, people living in fear for their safety, and politicians at city hall just in it for themselves."[5]

Though the election was officially nonpartisan, both candidates were registered Democrats. Caruso announced he changed his party registration from no party preference to Democrat in January 2022.[6] Bass had held elected office as a Democrat since 2005.

The New York Times' Jennifer Medina wrote that the race "has focused on voters’ worries about public safety and homelessness in the nation’s second-largest city" and could "become a test of whether voters this year favor an experienced politician who has spent nearly two decades in government or an outsider running on his business credentials."[7]

Speaking to Axios, Bass spokeswoman Anna Bahr said, "Voters have a choice in this race — between a billionaire real estate developer who has never built a single unit of affordable housing despite 50,000 people living on our streets, and a Black community organizer who has spent her life running toward this city's crises and solving them."[8]

Caruso Senior Advisor Peter Ragone said, "Los Angeles is in a crisis: Homeless, crime and corruption are uncontrolled. This is a moment for someone like Rick to come in and clean up City Hall."[8]

This was the first even-year election for Los Angeles mayor since the 2015 passage of Charter Amendment 1, which shifted city elections to even-numbered years beginning in 2020.

The city of Los Angeles uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.

Heading into 2022, the mayors of 63 of the country's 100 largest cities were affiliated with the Democratic Party. Republicans held 28 mayoral offices, independents held four, and five mayors were nonpartisan. One mayor's partisan affiliation was unknown. Heading into the election, Los Angeles had a Democratic mayor.

For coverage of the June 7, 2022, primary election, click here.

Election news

This section includes a timeline of events leading up to the election.

  • November 17, 2022: The race was called for Bass.
  • November 16, 2022: With 70%[9] of votes reported, Bass led with 52.5% to Caruso's 47.5%.[10]
  • November 15, 2022: With 65%[9] of votes reported, Bass led with 52.2% to Caruso's 47.8%.[11]

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Mayor of Los Angeles

Karen Bass defeated Rick J. Caruso in the general election for Mayor of Los Angeles on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Karen Bass
Karen Bass (Nonpartisan)
 
54.8
 
509,944
Image of Rick J. Caruso
Rick J. Caruso (Nonpartisan)
 
45.2
 
420,030

Total votes: 929,974
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Los Angeles

The following candidates ran in the primary for Mayor of Los Angeles on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Karen Bass
Karen Bass (Nonpartisan)
 
43.1
 
278,511
Image of Rick J. Caruso
Rick J. Caruso (Nonpartisan)
 
36.0
 
232,490
Image of Kevin de León
Kevin de León (Nonpartisan)
 
7.8
 
50,372
Image of Gina Viola
Gina Viola (Nonpartisan)
 
6.9
 
44,341
Image of Mike Feuer
Mike Feuer (Nonpartisan) (Unofficially withdrew)
 
1.9
 
12,087
Image of Andrew Kim
Andrew Kim (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
1.5
 
9,405
Image of Alex Gruenenfelder
Alex Gruenenfelder (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
1.0
 
6,153
Image of Joe Buscaino
Joe Buscaino (Nonpartisan) (Unofficially withdrew)
 
0.7
 
4,485
Image of Craig E. Greiwe
Craig E. Greiwe (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.4
 
2,439
Image of Mel Wilson
Mel Wilson (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
0.4
 
2,336
Image of Ramit Varma
Ramit Varma (Nonpartisan)
 
0.3
 
1,916
John Jackson (Nonpartisan)
 
0.2
 
1,511

Total votes: 646,046
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Voting information

See also: Voting in California

Election information in California: Nov. 8, 2022, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: Oct. 24, 2022
  • By mail: Postmarked by Oct. 24, 2022
  • Online: Oct. 24, 2022

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: Nov. 8, 2022
  • By mail: Received by Nov. 1, 2022
  • Online: N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: Nov. 8, 2022
  • By mail: Postmarked by Nov. 8, 2022

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Oct. 10, 2022 to Nov. 7, 2022

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

N/A


Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Image of Karen Bass

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Incumbent: No

Political Office: 

  • U.S. House of Representatives (Assumed office: 2011)
  • California State Assembly (2005-2010)

Biography:  Bass received a bachelor's degree in health sciences from California State University and graduated from the physician assistant program at the University of Southern California. Bass worked as a physician's assistant and was a faculty member at the University of Southern California. In 1990, Bass co-founded the Community Coalition, a group focused on the issues of addiction and gang violence.



Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.


Bass said her political experience would allow her to build coalitions across multiple levels of government to address homelessness. Bass said she would work to “build more temporary, affordable, and permanent supportive housing,” “house 15,000 people by the end of year one, dramatically reduce street homelessness, end street encampments, [and] lead on mental health and substance abuse treatment.”


To address public safety, Bass said she would hire more police officers, invest in programs to address causes of crime, and establish an Office of Community Safety “to develop a neighborhood-specific strategy to re-envision public safety, and ensure that the needs of individual communities are met.”


In a debate, Bass said, “when I look at the negatives, I also see that as an opportunity. An opportunity for jobs, for example. We have environmental goals we need to accomplish in the next decade-and-a-half. That’s an opportunity for jobs.”


Show sources

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.

Image of Rick J. Caruso

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography:  Caruso received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California (USC) and a law degree from Pepperdine University. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Caruso, a retail complex development company. Caruso founded a student loan forgiveness fund for low-income students, and served on Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power Commission, Police Commission, and on the USC Board of Trustees.



Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.


A Caruso campaign ad said, “As Police Commission president, [Caruso] took on city hall politicians and cut crime 30%. As mayor, Caruso won’t defund the police. He’ll invest in making L.A. safer with 1500 new officers, increase youth crime prevention, and crack down on illegal guns and retail theft.”


To address homelessness, Caruso said he would declare a state of emergency, increase the number of emergency shelter beds, establish a department to address mental health and addiction treatment, enforce restrictions on sleeping in public areas, and incentivize the construction of affordable housing.


In a debate, Caruso said his business experience would help him create jobs and that he was “the only candidate here that has ever run a big enterprise, a big operation. LA city has an $11 billion budget, tens of thousands of employees that need to be managed. This isn’t a job you can learn while you take the job, you need the experience.”


Show sources

This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign advertisements

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Grey.png Karen Bass

September 7, 2022
May 9, 2022
October 8, 2021

View more ads here:


Grey.png Rick Caruso

October 22, 2022
October 7, 2022
February 15, 2022

View more ads here:


Debates and forums

October 11 debate

On October 11, 2022, Bass and Caruso participated in a debate hosted by NBC 4.[22]

Click on the links below for summaries of the event:

October 6 debate

On October 6, 2022, Bass and Caruso participated in a debate hosted by KNX News.[23]

Click on the links below for summaries of the event:

September 21 debate

On September 21, 2022, Bass and Caruso participated in a debate hosted by Fox 11 Los Angeles.[28]

Click on the links below for summaries of the event:

News and conflicts in this primary

This race was featured in The Heart of the Primaries, a newsletter capturing stories related to conflicts within each major party.Click here to subscribe to the newsletter.

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[33] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[34] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

Los Angeles mayoral election: General election polls
Poll Date Grey.png Bass Grey.png Caruso Undecided/Other Margin of error Sample size[35] Sponsor[36]
Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times October 25-31 45% 41% 13%[37] ±4.0 1,131 LV -
Wallin Opinion Research October 15-17 37% 40% 24%[38] ±4.9 400 LV -
Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times September 22-26 34% 31% 34%[39] ±3.5 1,688 RV -
Probolsky Research September 19-25 48% 42% 10%[40] ±4.5 500 LV Klink Campaigns
Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times August 9-15 43% 31% 24%[41] ±3 1,746 RV -


Noteworthy endorsements

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please email us.


General election endorsements
Endorser Nonpartisan Karen Bass Nonpartisan Rick J. Caruso
Government officials
President Joe Biden (D)  source  
Vice President Kamala D. Harris (D)  source  
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders  source  
Individuals
Former President Barack Obama  source  
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan  source  
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa  source  
Newspapers and editorials
La Opinión  source  
Los Angeles Daily News  source  
Los Angeles Times Editorial Board  source  
The Korea Times  source  
Westside Current  source  

Election spending

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from candidates submitted to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission during both the primary and general election. It does not include information on spending by satellite groups. Click here to access those reports.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[42][43][44]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

Election context

Mayoral partisanship

See also: Partisanship in United States municipal elections (2022)

Twenty-four of the 100 largest U.S. cities held mayoral elections in 2022. Once mayors elected in 2022 assumed office, Democrats held 62 top-100 mayoral offices, Republicans held 26, independents held three, and nonpartisan mayors held seven. Two mayors' partisan affiliations were unknown.

The following top 100 cities saw a change in mayoral partisan affiliation in 2022:

Election history

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Los Angeles, California (2017)

The city of Los Angeles, California, held primary elections for mayor, eight city council seats, city attorney, and city controller on March 7, 2017. Three community college board of trustees seats were also up for general election on that date.

Most races where no candidate earned a majority (50% plus one) of the primary votes cast advanced to a general election on May 16, 2017. This rule did not apply to the community college board races, which were determined by a plurality winner in the March election.[47]

This election was the second impacted by Charter Amendment 1. Passed in March 2015, the amendment shifted city elections to even-numbered years beginning in 2020. As a result, officials elected in 2017 won special five-and-a-half year terms ending in 2022. The following candidates ran in the primary election for mayor of Los Angeles.[48]

Los Angeles Mayor, Primary Election, 2017
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.png Eric Garcetti Incumbent 81.37% 331,310
Mitchell Schwartz 8.16% 33,228
David Hernandez 3.28% 13,346
Diane Harman 1.26% 5,115
David Saltsburg 1.18% 4,809
Dennis Richter 1.12% 4,558
YJ Draiman 0.91% 3,705
Frantz Pierre 0.83% 3,386
Eric Preven 0.74% 3,023
Yuval Kremer 0.60% 2,436
Paul Amori 0.55% 2,231
Total Votes 407,147
Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "March 7, 2017, Election Results: Statement of Votes Cast," accessed May 22, 2017

2013

See also: Los Angeles mayoral election, 2013

Garcetti won the primary election on March 5, 2013, defeating the other seven candidates on the ballot. He defeated Wendy Greuel, who had come in 2nd place in the primary, in the general election on May 21, 2013.[49]

Mayor of Los Angeles, General Election, 2013
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngEric Garcetti 54.2% 222,300
     Nonpartisan Wendy Greuel 45.8% 187,609
Total Votes 409,909


Mayor of Los Angeles, Primary Election, 2013
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngEric Garcetti 33.1% 121,930
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngWendy Greuel 29% 106,748
     Nonpartisan Kevin James 16.3% 60,154
     Nonpartisan Jan Perry 15.9% 58,472
     Nonpartisan Emanuel Pleitez 4.1% 15,263
     Nonpartisan Norton Sandler 0.5% 2,002
     Nonpartisan Addie M. Miller 0.5% 1,810
     Nonpartisan Yehuda "Yj" Draiman 0.4% 1,543
Total Votes 367,922

About the city

See also: Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles is a city in California and the seat of Los Angeles County. As of 2020, its population was 3,898,747.

City government

See also: Mayor-council government

The city of Los Angeles uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body and the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[50]

Demographics

The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.

Demographic Data for Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles California
Population 3,898,747 39,538,223
Land area (sq mi) 469 155,857
Race and ethnicity**
White 48.9% 56.1%
Black/African American 8.8% 5.7%
Asian 11.8% 14.8%
Native American 0.7% 0.8%
Pacific Islander 0.2% 0.4%
Other (single race) N/A 14.3%
Multiple 7% 7.9%
Hispanic/Latino 48.1% 39.1%
Education
High school graduation rate 78.3% 83.9%
College graduation rate 35.6% 34.7%
Income
Median household income $65,290 $78,672
Persons below poverty level 16.9% 12.6%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


What was at stake?

Report a story for this election

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Candidate survey

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2022 battleground elections

See also: Battlegrounds

This election was a battleground race. Other 2022 battleground elections included:

See also

Los Angeles, California California Municipal government Other local coverage
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Seal of California.png
Municipal Government Final.png
Local Politics Image.jpg

External links

Footnotes

  1. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "Bass, Karen," accessed May 16, 2022
  2. YouTube, "Get It Done," May 9, 2022
  3. LinkedIn, "Caruso," accessed May 16, 2022
  4. Rick Caruso's campaign website, "Meet Rick Caruso," accessed May 16, 2022
  5. YouTube, "Faith, Family and Community," February 15, 2022
  6. Los Angeles Times, "Rick Caruso changes registration to Democrat as he weighs a run for L.A. mayor," January 24, 2022
  7. The New York Times, "Rick Caruso and Karen Bass head to a runoff in the Los Angeles mayor’s race.," June 8, 2022
  8. 8.0 8.1 Axios, "Why L.A. mayor’s race matters," May 29, 2022
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 This number is a New York Times estimate of votes reported.
  10. The New York Times, "Los Angeles Mayor Election Results," accessed November 16, 2022
  11. The New York Times, "Los Angeles Mayor Election Results," accessed November 15, 2022
  12. The New York Times, "Los Angeles Mayor Election Results," accessed November 14, 2022
  13. The New York Times, "Los Angeles Mayor Election Results," accessed November 10, 2022
  14. The New York Times, "Los Angeles Mayor Election Results," accessed November 10, 2022
  15. The New York Times, "Los Angeles Mayor Election Results," accessed November 10, 2022
  16. Los Angeles Times, "Rick Caruso closes in on Karen Bass as L.A. mayor’s race tightens, poll finds," November 4, 2022
  17. NBC Los Angeles, "Former President Obama Endorses Karen Bass for LA Mayor," October 29, 2022
  18. Westside Current, "Current Endorsement: Rick Caruso Can and Will Stand Up for Change," October 23, 2022
  19. Wallin Opinion Research, "City of Los Angeles Likely Voter Survey," October 18, 2022
  20. Twitter, "Karen Bass on October 14, 2022," accessed October 18, 2022
  21. Los Angeles Times, "Endorsement: Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor," October 13, 2022
  22. 22.0 22.1 NBC 4, "Full Video: LA Mayoral Debate 2022, Karen Bass and Rick Caruso," October 11, 2022
  23. 23.0 23.1 YouTube, "KNX News Mayoral Debate — Los Angeles — Karen Bass / Rick Caruso," October 6, 2022
  24. NBC Los Angeles, "Bernie Sanders Endorses Karen Bass for LA Mayor," October 4, 2022
  25. Los Angeles Daily News, "Endorsement: Rick Caruso for mayor to give Los Angeles a clean start," October 4, 2022
  26. Los Angeles Times, "Caruso cuts into Bass’ lead, poll finds, as L.A. mayoral race heads into final weeks," October 2, 2022
  27. Probolsky Research, "Bass Leads in Race for Los Angeles Mayor," September 27, 2022
  28. 28.0 28.1 YouTube, "LA Mayoral Debate: Rep. Karen Bass, Rick Caruso square off," September 21, 2022
  29. Twitter, "AdImpact Politics on September 13, 2022," accessed September 13, 2022
  30. Los Angeles Times, "In new poll, Karen Bass jumps out to big lead over Rick Caruso in race for L.A. mayor," August 26, 2022
  31. Deadline, "Joe Biden & Kamala Harris Endorse Karen Bass In L.A. Mayor’s Race; Rick Caruso Quickly Responds," August 2, 2022
  32. Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, "2022 CITY AND LAUSD ELECTIONS TOTALS BY SEAT," accessed August 30, 2022
  33. For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
  34. Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
  35. RV=Registered Voters
    LV=Likely Voters
  36. The sponsor is the person or group that funded all or part of the poll.
  37. Undecided: 13%
  38. Unsure/Refused: 24%
  39. Other: 3%
    Undecided: 31%
  40. Unsure: 10%
  41. Undecided: 24%
  42. OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
  43. OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
  44. National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
  45. Twitter, "AdImpact Politics on September 13, 2022," accessed September 13, 2022
  46. Lee was elected as a Democrat and switched parties in 2021.
  47. Los Angeles Daily News, "A dozen hopefuls step up to the starting line for Los Angeles mayoral race," November 11, 2016
  48. City of Los Angeles City Clerk, "2017 Primary Nominating Election Candidates," December 16, 2016
  49. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named lat
  50. City of Los Angeles, "About the City Government," accessed September 15, 2014