LOS ANGELES — Rep. Karen Bass was still six months away from launching her Los Angeles mayoral bid when she endorsed city attorney candidate Faisal Gill in March 2021. At the time, she described Gill as a friend she had known for more than a decade, saying he would champion criminal justice reform and be “a fighter for progressive policies.”
Nearly a year and a half later, Gill is leading the race to be the city’s next top lawyer and Bass is the front-runner to succeed Mayor Eric Garcetti.
But the political landscape now looks a bit different than it did in March 2021. As a progressive Democrat vying to lead the nation’s second-largest city amid an uptick in crime, Bass has had to walk a delicate line on issues of policing and public safety. Her opponent, Rick Caruso, has fought to cast her as insufficiently tough on crime, while her party’s left most flank has attacked some of her more moderate stances.
