It’s official: Rep. Karen Bass is running for mayor of LA

After months of speculation, Rep. Karen Bass on Monday, Sept. 27, officially announced on social media that she is running to be Los Angeles’ next mayor.

With my whole heart, I'm ready. Let's do this -- together.

I'm running for mayor.https://t.co/CLkJfFddHT

— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) September 27, 2021

Rep. Bass gave the following reasons for running on her campaign website:

Thirty years ago, Karen Bass saw a city in crisis and stepped up to lead. As a Los Angeles native and a nurse, she saw crime and addiction tearing families and communities apart. So she dedicated her career to helping: by founding Community Coalition, one of the most impactful and respected nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles. What started as an effort to reduce violence by closing liquor stores and helping people with drug addiction turned into a thirty-year force in creating economic, education, and housing opportunities.

Today Los Angeles faces another emergency. A public health and humanitarian crisis: homelessness.

40,000 people sleep on the streets of LA every night – more than in any other city in the nation.

Karen is running for Mayor because she knows that solving this crisis means addressing the root causes of homelessness: lack of affordable housing, health care, job training, mental health services, and drug and alcohol counseling.

Today’s homelessness crisis demands urgent attention to root causes, not just surface-level fixes or divisive talking points by politicians.

There are no simple answers, but Karen has the experience, values, and support to get the job done.

Rep. Karen Bass says she is 'seriously considering' run for Los Angeles mayor

Responding to favorable polling numbers and encouragement from supporters, Rep. Karen Bass said she is "seriously considering" running for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.

A poll released on Aug. 23 by a California-based public opinion research firm found that more than a quarter of a sample of the city's Democrats supported Bass against other current and potential candidates for the 2022 mayoral election.

In an interview with KPCC/LAist, Bass said, "I have been overwhelmed and humbled by people pushing for me to do this, and I will say that I am seriously considering it."

She said that running for mayor "was not something I had thought about before -- I was planning to run for reelection. I am evaluating the situation now."

There’s evidence that Bass would enter the campaign as a frontrunner. A survey by opinion firm FM3 Research that asked Democratic voters about current and potential candidates found strong support for Bass — nearly a quarter of respondents picked her as their first choice for mayor. Bass' hypothetical competitors languished in the single digits, according to the results of the late-July early-August snapshot.

[SOURCE: MSN]