Karen Ruth Bass

Karen Ruth Bass is the Mayor of Los Angeles, a position she has held since December 2022.¹ She previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022 and in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, where she was Speaker in her final term.² She also worked as a physician assistant and chaired the Congressional Black Caucus in 2019 and 2020.³

On her first day as mayor, Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness.² Her campaign says street homelessness has fallen by 17.5% and that 59,000 people have been brought indoors.⁴ In June 2026, it was reported that about one-third of units in the city's master leasing program, around 250, remained vacant under her tenure.²

On housing, in 2025 Bass supported the city council in opposing a state bill that would allow dense housing near transit stations, urging the governor to veto it.² The governor signed the bill into law in October 2025.² In April 2026, she signed an executive order to speed up residential construction by studying reforms such as self-certification.²