LA Mayor's Race: Karen Bass widens lead over Rick Caruso

Rep. Karen Bass has widened her lead over billionaire Rick Caruso in the race to become Los Angeles' next mayor.

Caruso had a slight lead on Bass in the LA mayoral race on last Wednesday morning, with 51.3% of the vote while Bass has 48.8%. 

However, by last Thursday Caruso's nearly 12,000 vote lead was drastically cut down to 2,695 ballots. Bass cut into his slight lead, garnering 49.75% of the vote compared to Caruso's 50.25%. But, on Friday Bass, who was considered the favorite in the race, had pulled ahead of her opponent. She now has a slim lead over Caruso, pulling in 50.38% of the vote compared to his 49.62%.

Her lead continued to grow through Tuesday, gaining 52.55%  of the vote, compared to Caruso's 47.45%. 

"I am honored and grateful for the support we are seeing. Our campaign was people-powered by thousands of volunteers, sending a message that we are committed to solutions for homelessness, public safety and affordability in every neighborhood and for every community. I am optimistic and looking forward to the next update," Bass said in a statement to CBSLA. 

The election has historical dimensions, coming as the City Council contends with a racism scandal that led to the resignation of its former president and calls for the resignation of two more members, an unabated homeless crisis, corruption probes and widespread concern with crime that has ranged from daytime robberies on city sidewalks to smash-and-grab thefts at luxury stores. 

The race has been shaped in large part by Caruso's lavish spending — and his unavoidable advertising. City records show his campaign expenses have topped $100 million so far, most of it financed with his own money.

Bass, with just a small fraction of that amount at her disposal, has said "it's not the power of the money, it's the power of the people."

The election is testing whether voters in the heavily Democratic city are willing to turn away from their liberal tendencies and embrace an approach that would place a strong emphasis on public safety.

"As predicted, this is a close race," Caruso said in a statement. "There are hundreds of thousands of votes to count and as expected we are going to see different results each time. I continue to be cautiously optimistic about these numbers and look forward to the next series of results in the coming weeks."