Former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner, whose 22-year-old daughter died unexpectedly last month, ended his bid to become mayor of Los Angeles Thursday.
In a statement, Beutner cited his family’s mourning over the death of Emily Beutner as the reason for ending his campaign.
“I have made the difficult decision not to run for Mayor of Los Angeles,” he said. “My family has experienced the unimaginable loss of our beloved daughter Emily. She was a magical person, the light of our lives. We are still in mourning.
“A successful campaign, and more importantly the job of Mayor, requires someone who is committed 24/7 to the job,” Beutner said. “Family has always come first for me. That is where I need to be at this time.”
His message concluded with the comment that Los Angeles is “a special place, but every day it’s becoming less affordable, less safe and a more difficult place to live. To solve these problems, new ideas are needed along with leadership capable of implementing them.”
Beutner served as LAUSD superintendent from 2018 to 2021, and he was considered a top challenger to incumbent Karen Bass in the upcoming election.
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who lost the 2022 election to Bass, recently announced he would not run for the office again. But he said Wednesday he was reconsidering that decision in light of a Los Angeles Times report this week that Bass may have directed the watering-down of a Palisades Fire after-action report critical of the fire department’s response to the blaze. Bass has vehemently denied the allegation.
Bass also faces challengers in Spencer Pratt, a reality television personality and Palisades Fire survivor; and Rae Huang, a community organizer, among others.