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Karen Bass, a Democratic congresswoman from California, is reportedly planning to run for Los Angeles mayor. The Washington Post first reported the news.


Karen Bass. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Although the field is still shaping up, Bass’ national profile and broad popularity would make her a top contender for the position Eric Garcetti is vacating to be ambassador to India.

Bass, 67, was on the short list to be Joe Biden’s vice-president. Her name has also come up in discussions of who might replace Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker.

In California, she has built a reputation as a progressive and a pragmatist: a community organizer who fought police brutality and addiction in Los Angeles and a practical politician who helped dig the state out of a historical fiscal crisis in 2008.

She was elected to Congress in 2010 to lead one of the most diverse districts in California, a constituency in Los Angeles that is 25% white, 25% Black, 40% Latino and 8% Asian American.

In the House, she took the lead in pushing for a police reform bill which passed her chamber twice but failed this week after negotiators conceded that Senate Democrats and Republicans would be unable to reconcile their differences.

“It’s sad,” she told the LA Times in an interview published Friday morning. “But at this point, I just felt like we were just running around in circles and we were never going to get to yes on anything.”

Still, she told reporters earlier this week, “our sense of urgency remains”.

Bass urged Biden and his administration to “use the full extent of their constitutionally mandated power to bring about meaningful police reform”.

In LA, Bass is interested in addressing homelessness and public health in the aftermath of the pandemic, a spokesperson said.

Other mayoral candidates include city council member and former state Senate leader Kevin de León, city attorney Mike Feuer and council member Joe Buscain.



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