Poll: LA Mayoral race heading to runoff between Rep. Karen Bass, Rick Caruso
With the California Primary Election deadline just days away, the race for LA Mayor is narrowing down to two candidates.
Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA.) and local billionaire developer Rick Caruso appear to be headed towards a November runoff, according to a poll by UC Berkeley that was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times.
Bass, who has been criticized by Caruso and other opponents for her association with former longtime Los Angeles County and City leader Mark Ridley-Thomas who was indicted last year on federal corruption charges, holds a small edge over Caruso, according to the LA Times.
Bass is getting most of her support from women and white liberals, according to the publication.
Bass had support from 38% of voters who are expected to fill out their ballot come November. Meanwhile, Caruso had 32%.
There's no question that Caruso, who was previously the chair of USC's Board of Trustees for four years before stepping down after announcing his candidacy for the mayoral race, has spent the most money in campaign advertisements.
This past week, a lot of celebrities and fellow businessmen have vouched for Caruso, including Elon Musk, rapper Snoop Dogg, Kim Kardashian and singer Katy Perry.
But now Caruso is starting to gain more support from Black and Latino men than Bass is, according to the LA Times.
However, Bass has also gained support from some of Hollywood's biggest names, including Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Jennifer Garner and filmmaker J.J. Abrams, among others, according to Deadline.com.
LA City Councilmember Kevin De León is still in the race but is far behind Bass and Caruso. De León received 6% of votes, according to the poll.
In addition, Los Angeles activist Gina Viola is still in the race. Viola is very popular among young voters but the expectation is that Bass and Caruso will pull away into November.
The race to become LA's next mayor is likely going to be deadlocked until the November general election comes around.
It's unlikely that any of the candidates receives 50% of votes, which would prevent the race from going to a runoff.
On Sunday, the candidates hit the streets to campaign and attempt to draw more support.
"Now the poll looks very good this morning, but I'm very clear that the poll that matters is Tuesday and so we have to make sure we turn out our vote," Bass told CBSLA Reporter Jake Reiner.
Bass made 10 stops on Sunday, including Little Ethiopia.
"She's authentic, she's from here, she grew up not too far from here, she's someone who is very in tuned to the issues," Bass supporter Markos Legesse said.
Meanwhile, Bass' biggest opponent, Caruso, put out his own statement on Sunday after campaigning in the Pico-Robertson area.
"This election is about who can deal with homeless, crime and corruption at city hall. It's down to the wire and we need everyone to vote," Caruso said.
