LOS ANGELES — U.S. Rep. Karen Bass overtook businessman Rick Caruso in the seesaw battle to be mayor of Los Angeles, with Friday’s vote tally showing the veteran lawmaker 4,384 votes ahead of the real estate developer in a contest that will not be settled until next week at the earliest.
The new totals from county election officials put Bass ahead, with a margin of 50.38% to 49.62%, for the first time since Caruso took a slim advantage in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Bass has now bested Caruso in the last two updates from the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.
Going into Friday, Caruso held a tiny lead of one-half percentage point, or 2,695 votes. The seesawing results of the vote count tended to affirm pre-election predictions that a winner might not be known for a week or more after last Tuesday’s Election Day.
