LOS ANGELES — Rep. Karen Bass moved closer to victory in the still-undecided Los Angeles mayor’s race Monday, with an updated tally of results showing the congresswoman leading real estate developer Rick Caruso 52.15% to 47.85% nearly a week after polls closed.
The results are not yet definitive and thousands of votes likely remain to be counted. But the latest release saw Bass continue to build her lead, with experts saying they struggled to see a path for Caruso to make up the ground ceded to Bass over the last several days of results. She would be the first woman elected mayor of Los Angeles, and only the second Black Angeleno to lead the city.
Bass now holds a 29,271-vote lead, according to the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office. Monday’s update heavily favored Bass, with the congresswoman taking in 63% of the more than 76,100 newly counted ballots. Votes cast in the city of Los Angeles accounted for about 40% of the latest tranche, which included 191,312 ballots in total.
