Democrat L.A. Mayor Hopeful Karen Bass Says She No Longer Feels Safe in City

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), the frontrunner in the ongoing race for Mayor of Los Angeles, told Fox 11 KTTV on Wednesday that she no longer feels safe in the city — which Democrats have run for many years, and where they have cut police funding.

Bass was the victim of a bizarre burglary last week in which guns were stolen from her home and everything else of value had been left untouched. It was the latest high-profile burglary in a city that has suffered a crime wave over the past two years.

In 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter riots, with police sirens wailing behind him and a city under curfew, current Mayor Eric Garcetti capitulated to left-wing demands and cut $150 million — more than 10% of the budget — from the police.

He promised to redistribute the funds to “communities of color,” rejecting the idea that such communities benefited from the presence of police who could deter and fight crime. Crimes, including homicides, skyrocketed in the months that followed.

Bass told KTTV:

During a mayoral debate held earlier in the year, Michaelson asked Bass to rate her personal safety on a sale of 1 to 10, 10 being “feeling the most safe.” At the time of the question – Bass responded she felt her personal safety was at a 10.

But how does Bass feel about her now, just days removed from the home break-in?

“My safety was shattered,” Bass admitted Wednesday.

Bass was one of several Democratic political hopefuls to distance herself from the “defund the police” movement, promising in February to expand the size of the Los Angeles Police Department, though without abandoning left-wing “reforms.”

Bass faces a challenge from billionaire Republican-turned-Democrat Rick Caruso, a prominent local real estate developer.

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.