Rick Caruso leads early returns in a tight 50.3% to 49.7% race, the L.A. Times reported Tuesday evening.
While a majority of the votes are still being counted, with the tight race going back and forth over the course of the night and only about 12% of the votes in per the L.A. Times, some Bass supporters are hopeful.
“I am optimistic that we will win this mayor’s race,” U.S. representative Adam Schiff said, speaking at Karen Bass’ watch party at the Hollywood Palladium Tuesday evening. “We will persevere. This too shall pass.”
Caruso’s campaign was his first after a lengthy career as a real estate developer, who built retail centers like Encino Marketplace, the Grove and the Americana. He was elected in 2001 to serve as president of the Los Angeles Police Commission.
“If you feel safe, if you’re happy with the homeless situation, if you’re happy with the corruption, then I’m not your candidate,” Caruso said in an interview with Annenberg Media. “If you want someone to fix the system and have real positive change to make L.A. more livable and safer, I’d be honored to have your vote.”
In contrast to Caruso, Bass is a long-time politician who was elected to the California State Assembly in 2004, where she became the first Black woman to be speaker of any state legislature in the nation. She was elected to Congress in 2010 and has been re-elected to the position for six consecutive terms.
“Today, as other states in the nation elected candidates who campaigned on lies, California elected leaders who stand up for truth, for voting rights, for democracy,” Sen. Alex Padilla said, at Bass’ watch party.
Homelessness was a prominent issue for both candidates throughout the campaign, and the subject remained contentious up until election day.
Caruso’s plan to address homelessness revolves around building interim housing for 30,000, while Bass’s plan includes converting existing properties in addition to building permanent and interim housing. Though Caruso’s plan projects to house twice as many people as Bass’, it is much more expensive.
“I think it’s an utter crisis and it’s really unfortunate because we have an abundance of resources and an abundance of housing,” housing activist Martha Escudero said in an interview with ATVN Tuesday. “We have three vacant homes per one unhoused person and five people die a day on the streets.”
Results will continue to be tallied through this week, and outlets like the L.A. Times are predicting that results could take up to a week to come in. With the results this close, it’s still unclear what the final outcome will be.
“It’s going to be a long night,” Bass said at her watch party. “We are in a fight for the soul of our city.”