Democratic Rep. Karen Bass overcame more than $100 million in spending by her rival Rick Caruso to win the Los Angeles mayor’s race, CNN projects, making history as the first woman and the first Black woman to serve as mayor.
Bass, who currently represents a Los Angeles-area House seat, was on Joe Biden’s shortlist for a running mate in the 2020 campaign.
She’s no stranger to making history: She previously served in the California State Assembly, where in 2008 she became the first Black woman to serve as speaker of a state legislature.
In her campaign, Bass emphasized the depth of her policy experience and her reputation as a collaborative listener and legislator. She also highlighted her early work as a physician assistant in the emergency room and her experience bringing together Black and Latino community organizers in South LA in the early 1990s to address the root causes of crime and the crack epidemic. She did that work through the nonprofit she founded, Community Coalition.
Bass also highlighted her role as a dealmaker when she led the California State Assembly after the 2008 financial crisis – making budget decisions that earned her a John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2010. She also made history in that role – becoming the first Black woman to serve as speaker of a state legislature in 2008.
She argued that her experience would give her a unique perspective and understanding of the problems with homelessness in Los Angeles. She said her experience in the emergency room had given her a depth of understanding of the problem that her primary rivals, including Caruso, did not have.
“I have a background in the medical field. I’ve worked with these patients,” she told CNN in an interview earlier this year. “I spent several years in the emergency room at (LA) county. My patients were homeless. My patients were mentally ill. They had substance abuse. I know these systems.”
She said she would declare a state of emergency on homelessness that would set a new tone on addressing homelessness citywide: “It should be dealt with like a natural disaster,” she told CNN. “I’m really hoping that we begin to build a new spirit in this city, where people understand that this problem is everyone’s problem.”
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