LOS ANGELES, California — The Los Angeles Times reports that billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso is now losing the race for mayor to Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) because of the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Times reports that while political momentum favored Caruso’s challenge in the spring, he lost in the June primary because of Bass’s support from the party machine, and political changes — including abortion — have boosted her prospects since then:
A Times/UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey released Friday puts Bass 12 points ahead of Caruso, and a separate poll released by an outside group supporting Bass found her with a similar advantage. Caruso campaign officials said their internal polling looks markedly different, but declined to provide details.
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The mayor’s race is technically nonpartisan, but pundits on both sides agree that a more partisan race framed around national issues is a boon for Bass.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade, which came two weeks after the June primary, has kept abortion at the white-hot center of the national discourse. With divisions escalating across the country and an abortion rights proposition atop the California ballot, it’s hard to imagine the issue receding from view.
The abortion issue has moved homelessness and crime out of public view, analysts quoted by the Times say. In addition, the Caruso campaign has been hurt by the failure of a recall of District Attorney George Gascón to qualify for the November ballot. Though the recall campaign handed in 26% more than the required number of signatures, the county verification process — conducted behind closed doors — was curiously rigorous and managed to disqualify 27% of signatures submitted.
Caruso might yet hope to use that to his advantage, arguing that with the recall gone, he would be one of the only strong voices for reform (aside from L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva). But his voters have one less reason to turn out.
Bass, the chosen candidate of the Democratic Party establishment, has relied on support from the well-worn party machine. Rather than focusing on how she would solve the city’s problems, she has highlighted her connections to the party’s coalition.
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.
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