Los Angeles Mayor's Race A Dead Heat: Real Time Election Results

LOS ANGELES, CA — The polls are closed. All votes have been cast, but it will likely be days before the results of the Los Angeles mayoral race are known.

In early returns released just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, developer Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass were essentially tied. Caruso had a narrow lead with 50.33 percent of the vote. Bass trailed with 49.67 percent of the vote. The difference was just 2,809 votes.

The outcome of the race may not be known for days or even weeks. Caruso held a sizeable lead on the night of the June primary only to see it evaporate as mail-in ballots were counted in the ensuing days, and Rep. Karen Bass ended up with a 7-point lead.

In speeches at their respective election night parties, both Caruso and Bass acknowledged the race may be too close to call for a while.

The early batch of results included only early vote-by-mail ballots cast before Election Day, and the second batch were from vote center ballots cast before Election Day. The latest poll before Election Day indicated that the race was tightening after Bass had sizable lead earlier in the campaign.

Caruso, walking out at his election night party at The Grove to the song "Safe And Sound" by Capital Cities, said he didn't know the outcome yet but that they were "starting out strong."

Caruso, in between chants of "Rick, Rick, Rick," thanked his supporters for taking "a chance on an unproven candidate who has never run for office." He spoke about his grandparents immigrating to Boyle Heights, where he cast his ballot on Tuesday to remind himself of his family's humble roots. Caruso said he wanted to provide the chance for everybody to achieve the American Dream.

"This election has always been about those that have been felt left behind and unheard," Caruso said. "Well let me tell you, I hear you and change will happen."

In her speech at the Los Angeles County Democratic Party's election night party at the Hollywood Palladium, Bass said it was "going to be a long night" and that the results might take a few days, before leading the crowd in a chant of "We will win."

"We will win, we're going to build a new Los Angeles, and when we win, we have to begin again," Bass said. "We want a City Hall that's not just a City Hall for the powerful, not just a City Hall for the wealthy -- but a City Hall that is for everyone so that we can have the quality of life that I know that we deserve."

Bass stated that Los Angeles is "at a crossroads," and that the election is a "fight for the soul of our city."

"And I know the soul of our city is based in a set of a values that is reflected in the Democratic Party," Bass said.

As she finished her speech, "Respect" by Aretha Franklin played over the speakers.

Bass, a six-term member of Congress, is seeking to become the first woman and only the second Black person to lead Los Angeles. Caruso, a billionaire, is looking to win a campaign that's on track to spend over $100 million — much of it from Caruso's own fortune — to propel him into contention.

She had the big endorsements. He had the big war chest. Both Bass and Caruso leaned into their strengths in the final days of the Los Angeles mayor’s race. If the limited polling available holds true, it's Caruso, the billionaire developer and Republican-turned-Democrat, who carried the momentum in the waning days of the campaign.

After losing the primary to Bass by seven points in June, a Southern California News Group poll released Oct. 18 has Caruso leading by 3 percent, essentially a dead heat.

A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times came out Friday with a poll showing, Bass maintaining her slight edge of support from 45 percent among likely voters compared to Caruso, who garnered support from 41 percent of likely voters. About 13 percent of respondents said they remained undecided.

It’s a dramatic turnaround from earlier in the summer when polls had Bass with a double-digit lead.

Whoever wins the election will inherit leadership of a city grappling with a scandal that has embroiled City Hall for the past month, after three council members and a top county labor official took part in a leaked conversation in October 2021 that included racist comments and attempts to manipulate redistricting.

"We've had a really volatile month in L.A. County, and Rick Caruso has made a late push here that clearly has made, at least in the polling, a significant difference," said Mindy Romero, director of USC's Center for Inclusive Democracy.

Caruso has connected the controversy to claims that the system is broken — exacerbating issues such as homelessness and crime. He painted himself as the candidate of change, blaming a failure of leadership for the City Hall scandal.

"People are spending more time protecting themselves and protecting their jobs than working for the residents of the city," Caruso said during the final mayoral debate on Oct. 11. "This is why we have crime out of control."

It's a message that resonated with voters such as John Amador, an independent who lived in Los Angeles for more than 50 years. He headed out to the polls despite the most powerful rain storm to slam Southern California all season. Amador said he favors Rick Caruso as a candidate for LA Mayor.

“I think he’s a strong candidate. He has more realistic views about what the city needs. I’m tired of all of the inflation,” he told Patch.

Amador felt it was especially important to vote this year amid soaring inflation, high gas prices and beyond.

“We tax like crazy,” he said.

Bass said at the debate that she would make sure Los Angeles rejects "the politics of divide and conquer." Bass, who beat Caruso by nearly 8 percentage points in the June primary, has sought to frame her opponent's campaign as one driven solely by Caruso's wallet.

In an interview with City News Service in October, Bass said Caruso "represents the worst of our political discourse."

"He shows the worst of what can happen when you have somebody who has unlimited resources, and then you have someone who is raising money and abiding by all the rules," Bass said. "He has no rules. He has just writes checks."

Scroll through the races below to see the real-time results of every election in Los Angeles County, or use the search field to find a specific race.

“Voters know the best way to address homelessness and safety is to have a leader who doesn’t accept the deterioration of our quality of life,” Caruso told the LA Daily News in a statement after the latest poll game out.

However, Pastor Cue Jn-Marie, of Skid Row’s Church Without Walls, laid the blame for the homelessness crisis at the feet of developers such as Caruso.

“Rick Caruso has made his money off of California’s number one crisis, which is the homeless crisis,” he told the paper. “To allow the person who has been basically causing trauma to our communities to be the mayor of the city, I don’t see anything getting done.”

The race largely focused on homelessness, City Hall corruption and crime. More than 40,000 people live in trash-strewn homeless encampments and rusty RVs, and widely publicized smash-and-grab robberies and home invasions have unsettled residents.

Bass has also criticized Caruso for switching political parties. Caruso was a Republican until 2019 and donated to anti-abortion politicians, allowing Bass to contrast herself as a "lifelong, pro-choice Democrat" in a city that leans heavily Democratic.

Caruso said at a debate in September that he has always been socially liberal, and that he left the Republican Party in 2019 because it didn't reflect his values -- noting his support for Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Gov. Jerry Brown.

"I liked the Democratic Party of 10 years ago and I like the Democratic Party of today," Bass said. "Because the Democratic Party of today is more diverse -- more diverse politically and diverse in every single way."

Bass, who was on then-President-elect Joe Biden’s shortlist for vice president, would be the first woman mayor of Los Angeles and the second Black person to hold the office.

Though Gov. Gavin Newsom notably declined to endorse either Democratic candidate, Bass recently earned an even more influential endorsement from former President Barack Obama.
"I am asking Los Angeles to vote for Karen Bass for mayor," Obama said in a video released by the Bass campaign. "I know Karen, she was with me in supporting my campaign from the beginning, and Karen Bass will deliver results. ... Karen has always been on the right side of the issues we care so deeply about. She has devoted her life to serving her community, from working in the emergency room, to saving California from a budget crisis, to delivering relief during the COVID pandemic as a member of Congress."

Bass, a Democratic congresswoman since 2011, was an early supporter of Obama's 2008 presidential run, campaigning for him in 2007 when she was a member of the state Assembly.

"I am humbled and honored to have the support of President Barack Obama," Bass said."President Obama brought us faith in our government and hope for the future of our country. It is impossible to overstate the impact of his work leading this country for eight scandal-free years advancing social and economic justice had on the nation and the world. That impact became even more obvious when it was followed by four years of corruption and crime emanating from the Oval Office. But we as a country are fighting back. We as a city are fighting back. President Obama's support underscores the contrast in this race and inspires our campaign as we share our plans to solve homelessness and make LA safer and more affordable for everyone during the home stretch."

A community activist, state legislator and congresswoman, Bass has deep roots in the community and ties to both grassroots organizations and the Democratic establishment.

Bass received the endorsement of most state and local Democratic politicians as well as President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Senators Alex Padilla and Bernie Sanders and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa while Caruso has been backed by former Mayor Richard Riordan, business groups including the Los Angeles County Business Federation, and the Los Angeles Police Protective League.

Bass can’t compete with Caruso when it comes to advertisements and paid get-out-the-vote efforts.

With his self-funded campaign, Caruso has been able to outspend Bass 13 to 1 to the tune of $3 million to $4 million a week in the final month of the campaign, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“I’m getting the message out there and it’s an expensive market to get the message out there,” Caruso told KTLA. “But it shows you how much I believe in this city and the future of this city that I would spend that kind of money to get to the people, because we need change and we need it desperately. I’m excited about making that change.”

City News Service and Patch Reporter Kat Schuster contributed to this report.