Happening in California 31.15
Welcome to Happening in California, a brief look at political news, insights, and analysis of the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Mayoral elections in America’s second-largest city have historically been real snoozers, punctuated with turnout as low as 17% … but that is about to change.
In 2022, Los Angeles will hold its first election for mayor in an even-numbered year since 1906.
Here are a few things to keep an eye on …
Cheers,
Tom Ross | President and CEO | Swing Strategies
P.S. Please feel free to forward this email along to friends and encourage them to sign up here.
The Big Picture: The Election for Mayor of Los Angeles is Going Prime Time.
For more than 100 years, Los Angeles has held its election for mayor in odd-numbered years. Predictably, this resulted in significant voter apathy. Now, it will coincide with the election for statewide offices.
And this year, for only the fourth time in 93 years, there won’t be an incumbent mayor on the ballot.
The November 8, 2022 General Election for mayor of Los Angeles is going to have a much bigger spotlight on it.
A Battle of Progressive Heavyweights
Congresswoman Karen Bass and LA City Councilman Kevin de León are both left-of-center progressive politicians who are the frontrunners heading into the election.
Before being elected to Congress and becoming Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Bass served in the State Assembly where she rose to the position of Speaker. She has raised the most thus far with notables like Facebook CFO Sheryl Sandberg and actors Jennifer Aniston and William H. Macy, among other Hollywood elites, contributing to her campaign.
De León served in both houses of the Legislature and eventually became President of the State Senate before unsuccessfully challenging U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein from the left in 2018. De León has earned the endorsement of powerful unions including SEIU United Service Workers West, UNITE HERE Local 11, and Teamsters to name a few.
Former police officer and LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino and LA City Attorney Mike Feuer, both Democrats, are other notable candidates for mayor.
Billionaire Los Angele developer Rick Caruso has toyed with the idea of running for Mayor at least since 2009. At the time, Caruso was registered as a Republican, but later re-registered as an independent and most recently, as in this year, re-registered as a Democrat.
The timing could finally be right to pull off a Bloomberg-esque campaign for mayor ...
... With the homelessness crisis, retail theft and public corruption making headlines, there are quite a few issues for voters to be unhappy about.
And now with turnout expected to be 3x higher than previous mayoral elections, a well-financed disrupter-style campaign could benefit.
The Impact of Citizen-Sponsored Ballot Measures
So far this year, we have seen the most LA city ballot measures filed in a decade.
Of course, not all of the measures will make the ballot, but they could put pressure on the mayoral candidates to take positions on issues they’d rather avoid ...
... Possibly nudging some candidates further to the left on labor, tenant, and property rights issues that could hurt business interests.
The Bottom Line: This year’s race for Los Angeles mayor will break some records — not only voter turnout, but also spending.
And unless Rick Caruso enters the race, the next mayor will further entrench the city with progressive politics.
Give us a ring or shoot us an email if you’d like to chat about what’s happening in California.