Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on Thursday offered Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s campaign for reelection his endorsement, just days before voters head to the polls.
Bass faces an uneasy path to a second term ahead of the June 2 election, amid concerns about her handling of the 2025 Los Angeles fires, homelessness, crime, and economic issues, among other policies. Newsom backed the incumbent mayor as polling indicates she is in a tight campaign against Spencer Pratt, viewed as conservative but running in a nonpartisan race, and Councilwoman Nithya Raman, a progressive who shocked the city by announcing her candidacy, despite previously endorsing Bass, citing concerns that Los Angeles is “at a breaking point.”
“The work Karen Bass is doing in Los Angeles is making our entire state stronger, with an 18% decline in homelessness while it grew nationally, historic drops in violent crime, boosting film production in LA, and protecting our communities against ICE. She has my full support for reelection,” Newsom said.
The governor’s statement comes after former Vice President Kamala Harris, also a California resident, endorsed Bass earlier this month. Newsom had previously said he “broadly” supported Bass, while expressing hesitation over aspects of her leadership.
“We can get into some of the [merits] of where she was on some housing bills and some homeless issues, and we’ll continue to kick the tires on a daily, not just weekly, basis” regarding the Los Angeles fire recovery efforts, Newsom said in early March. “Those are areas where we’ll work those things out, but I broadly do [support Bass].”
A UC Berkeley–Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday showed Bass holds a narrow lead ahead of the election, but one that has shrunk from a previous survey and that indicates she will be unable to avoid a runoff election in November. The latest poll showed her with 26% support among likely voters, followed by Raman with 25% and Pratt with 22% support.
Those numbers come after Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics released a poll earlier this month that showed Bass held 30% of voters’ support, followed by Pratt at 22% and Raman with 19%.
If no candidate earns more than 50% of the vote on Tuesday, the election will head into a runoff in November, featuring the top two finishers.
OFFICIAL PALISADES FIRE REPORT EDITED BY BASS TO SOFTEN CRITIQUE OF CITY’S RESPONSE TO CRISIS
Bass thanked Newsom on Thursday for his endorsement.
“Governor Newsom has been a partner for Los Angeles at every turn — from delivering state resources that have driven down homelessness two years in a row, to standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us against Donald Trump’s lawless attacks on our city, to cutting red tape so we can build more faster,” she said.