Bass launches her reelection campaign

Mayor sees her opponents as 'the billionaire class'

- By Noah Goldberg

SUPPORTERS join Mayor Karen Bass at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.

(Myung J. Chun Los Angeles Times)

At her official campaign launch Dec. 13, Mayor Karen Bass told Angelenos that they face a simple decision.

After speaking about the Palisades fire, federal immigration raids and the homelessness and affordability crises, she turned to the primary election next June.

“This election will be a choice between working people and the billionaire class who treat public office as their next vanity project,” Bass told a crowd of a few hundred people at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College.

In one sentence, without uttering a single name, the mayor appeared to be taking a shot at three men. Was she talking about President Trump? Mayoral hopeful Austin Beutner? Her previous opponent, the billionaire developer Rick Caruso?

Or how about all of the above, suggested Bass' campaign spokesperson, Doug Herman.

The billionaire class certainly includes Caruso, who self-funded his 2022 campaign to the tune of more than $100 million.

It also includes Trump, who the New York Times estimated could be worth more than $10 billion. Though the mayor is not running against Trump, she likes to cast herself in opposition to him.And Beutner, a former L.A. schools superintendent, was once an investment banker, Herman pointed out.