LOS ANGELES — Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso jumped to a narrow early lead over U.S. Rep. Karen Bass as the first returns arrived Tuesday night in their costly primary race to become Los Angeles’ next mayor, with preelection polling suggesting they will be forced to square off again in a November runoff election.
The early results included ballots cast by mail and received by voting officials by Monday. Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de Leon was third, far behind the leaders, with progressive activist Gina Viola fourth.
With voters in a sour mood after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a seemingly intractable homelessness crisis and increased gun violence, the vote was viewed as a referendum on whether Los Angeles would stick with the liberal Democratic leadership that has been in charge for most of the last half-century.
