Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Friday evening she will not run for mayor of Los Angeles, the third potential candidate in two days to say they won’t be challenging Mayor Karen Bass.
The announcement came just over 14 hours before the deadline to file a declaration of intention to be a candidate in the mayor’s race in the June 2 primary.
In 1 minute, 33 second video posted on social media, Horvath thanked her supporters for their faith, but affirmed she would not pursue a mayoral run. Horvath said she will focus on reelection for a second term on the Board of Supervisors, representing the Third Supervisorial District.
“It’s clear you want a different kind of leadership, and you’re ready to see change in your city. I am excited to work with you on that. It’s why you elected me to be your Los Angeles County Supervisor, and so I know that work is not yet finished,” Horvath said in her video announcement.
“So I am choosing not to run for mayor and instead focus on my reelection for Los Angeles County Supervisor, not because I’m stepping away from a challenge,” Horvath added. “I’m stepping even more into the one we’ve already started.”
She concluded her message with a commitment to work with residents of the county and the leaders of its 88 cities.
“I want to make sure that the Los Angeles County that you believe in is one that we create together… I look forward to the journey that we will be on ahead together,” Horvath said.
Her announcement ends weeks of speculation.
If she had become a candidate for mayor, she would have been forced to end her effort to be elected to a second term on the Board of Supervisors in the June primary under the state law prohibiting a person to run for more than one office in the same election.
Horvath was a vocal critic of the city’s response to the Palisades Fire. The supervisor called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to fully investigate the true cause of the disaster.
“The city’s diluted report has lost all credibility,” Horvath wrote on social media. Her district on the Board of Supervisors includes Pacific Palisades.
Horvath wrote in a letter to Newsom that questions about the indicated cause of the fire still exist and deserve answers.
Saturday at noon is the deadline to file to become a candidate. As of late Friday afternoon, 37 potential challengers had been issued papers to challenge Mayor Karen Bass, including eight who had been issued papers Friday, according to The Office of the City Clerk.
The best-known of the potential challengers, former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner, announced Thursday he would not run because of the unexpected death of his 22-year-old daughter Emily last month.
This week the mayoral race took an unexpected turn of events in the wake of a bombshell story published Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times saying Bass directed the watering-down of an after-action report critical of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s handling of the deadly Palisades Fire. Bass vehemently denied the accusation.
Billionaire developer and former unsuccessful mayoral candidate Rick Caruso said on Wednesday that he contemplated another run against Bass following the Times story, but said on Thursday he would not run.
“Rick is incredibly moved by the outpouring of support but reached an earlier decision in a thoughtful process and it stands. He will not be a candidate for mayor,” Mike Murphy, a political consultant for Caruso, told the Times Thursday.
The Times, quoting “two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office,” reported that after receiving an early draft of the after-action report, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva the report could result in legal liabilities for those failures.
The paper said Bass held onto the original draft until after changes were made. It was unclear whether Villanueva or other LAFD officials, or anyone in the mayor’s office, made “line-by-line edits” at Bass’ specific instructions or if they imposed changes after receiving a general direction from the mayor.
Caruso said that any edits or efforts to water down the after-action report put residents at risk again and “violates the sacred duty that an elected official has to the residents.”
However, Bass’ office, in a statement Wednesday responding to the Times story, said neither the mayor nor her staff made changes to earlier report drafts — and that Bass reviewed an early draft and asked only that the LAFD make sure it was accurate on issues such as weather and budget.
Bass later spoke on KNX to again vehemently deny she directed edits to the after-action report.
“Absolutely false, 100%,” Bass said, referring to the Times story. “Just think about it for a minute. I’m the one who ordered the after-action report when the fire chief would not do it. I fired her. Why would I water down a report that essentially presented the information for why I fired her? That makes no sense.”
Challengers to Bass include Spencer Pratt, a reality television personality and Palisades Fire survivor; and Rae Huang, a community organizer.
Adam Miller, founder and former CEO of workforce education company Cornerstone OnDemand, announced his bid for mayor Thursday.
Maryam Zar, who formed Palisades Recovery Coalition, told the Times that she was also weighing a mayoral bid, but would decide on the final day.
Of the 10 Los Angeles mayors to have sought a second term since the office’s term became four years in 1925, only two have been denied second terms — John C. Porter in 1929 and James Hahn in 2005.