Poll: Businessman Rick Caruso Takes Slim Lead in L.A. Mayor's Race

LOS ANGELES, California — Billionaire Rick Caruso has taken a slim lead in the race for L.A. mayor, thanks to ad spending and public frustration with a political class that has failed to address crime, homelessness, and the poor quality of education.

A new poll conducted by the Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times shows Caruso at 24%, slightly ahead of left-wing Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) at 23%, a statistical dead heat given the poll’s 2.5% margin of error.

The Times reported Monday:

If the primary were today, Caruso, with backing from 24% of likely voters, and Bass, with 23%, would move to the November runoff, according to a new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.

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The poll, taken from March 29 to Tuesday, marks a major shift in the campaign. Bass held a wide lead over Caruso in February, when theprevious Berkeley IGS poll for The Times was conducted. Caruso, who had just entered the race, stood at 8% in that poll. Since then, his support has tripled while Bass has lost ground.

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Caruso’s ascent results in no small part from nearly $9 million he has spent on television and digital advertising since February. Bass has not yet begun airing television ads.

If one of the candidates wins 50% in the June primary, they will become mayor — otherwise there will be a November runoff.

Caruso, a Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, is best known for developing high-end shopping centers such as The Grove in Beverly Hills and the Palisades Village. He controversially banned boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and then-candidate Donald Trump from his properties over their conservative political stances (he relented after Trump won in 2016). Focusing on the homelessness issue, he has sent glossy ads to residents that convert conveniently into window signs.

Bass, the former head of the Congressional Black Caucus who was on the short list to be Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020, is known for having a soft spot for communist dictator Fidel Castro in Cuba, though she was also one of the few Democratic lawmakers speaking out against the mob destruction of statues and memorials during the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020. She has had difficulty running a successful campaign, as she has lost several top staffers since entering the race last year.

Outgoing mayor Eric Garcetti, who was re-elected by a wide margin in 2017, was tapped to serve as President Biden’s ambassador to India, but his nomination has stalled amid questions about his indifference to sexual misconduct by a key aide.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.