News, The L.A. mayor’s race appears close. Here’s what needs to happen for Bass and Caruso : detailed suggestions and opinions about The L.A. mayor’s race appears close. Here’s what needs to happen for Bass and Caruso .
With two days left in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, front-runner Karen Bass is fighting to maintain her longstanding advantage as the favorite of the city’s liberal Democratic political base, while businessman Rick Caruso tries to forge a new winning coalition, powered largely by Latinos and residents of the San Fernando Valley.
Both Bass and Caruso now appear to have paths to victory in a contest that Bass had dominated for months, besting Caruso by 7 percentage points in the June primary and surging to a lead of as much as 21 points by late summer. Bass’ advantage had shrunk to just 45% to 41%, within the margin of error, in a poll published by The Times on Friday.
The question that will not be settled until Tuesday’s election — and potentially revealed only after days or weeks of vote counting — is whether Caruso’s momentum has plateaued, or will push him into the mayor’s office.
“If you are a Karen Bass person, you are anxious the race has gotten so close, but also grateful that you’re standing and still ahead after Caruso has thrown his biggest punches,” said Paul Mitchell, a political data expert who has been closely following the race. “If you’re a Caruso person, you are still hopeful because you have this one last weapon in your back pocket: a $13-million field campaign program that is unprecedented.”
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