Rep. Karen Bass has built a 36,000-vote lead on developer Rick Caruso in the race for Los Angeles mayor and has been increasing her advantage with each update, as another batch of results are expected this afternoon.
An additional 92,776 ballots were added to the tally Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for a total of nearly 1.9 million ballots counted so far, with Bass now holding a 53% to 47% lead.
An estimated 565,050 ballots were left to be processed after Tuesday’s update, according to the clerk’s office, but it was unclear how many of the uncounted votes are from the city of Los Angeles.
The last five updates after Election Day have all resulted in gains for Bass, who took the lead in the vote count on Friday and has expanded it since.
“I am honored and grateful for the support we are continuing to see,” Bass said Monday in a statement on Twitter. “I am optimistic and looking forward to the next update.”
Caruso has not commented on this week’s results. Last week, when the race was essentially even, Caruso said that this was “a close race” as predicted.
Bass, a six-term member of Congress, is seeking to become the first woman and only the second Black person to lead Los Angeles. Caruso, a billionaire developer, is looking to win a campaign that was on track to spend more than $100 million — much of it from Caruso’s own fortune — to propel him into office.
The winner will inherit leadership of a city grappling with a worsening homelessness crisis and a scandal that has embroiled City Hall for the past month, after three council members and a top county labor official took part in a leaked conversation in October 2021 that included racist comments and attempts to manipulate redistricting.