Karen Bass Sworn In As Mayor of Los Angeles
Karen Bass has been sworn in as the first female mayor of Los Angeles, California.
A Los Angeles native, Bass was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris. The swearing in ceremony took place Sunday afternoon outside the Microsoft Theatre. The event was not short of Black excellence as the guest list included gospel music duo Mary Mary, singer Chloe Bailey, ½ of music duo Chloe x Halle, and poet laurate Amanda Gorman. Rounding out the list was Grammy Award winning artist Stevie Wonder with a star-studded musical performance.
Bass becomes mayor at a time when the city of Los Angeles is in dire need of leadership and change. Writer Ted Johnson, in his 2022 article for Deadline, “Karen Bass Sworn In As First Woman Mayor Of Los Angeles, Says She Will Declare State Of Emergency On Homelessness” writes, “she plans to declare a state of emergency on homelessness on Monday as her first act as mayor that will ‘recognize the severity of our crisis and break new ground to maximize our ability to urgently move people inside, and do so for good.’”
Bass successfully defeated Rick Caruso, a real estate developer who accrued over $100 million on his mayoral bid, according to the Los Angeles Times. Bass was considered somewhat of a dark horse as her platform of cross-community and cross-generational change as the first Black woman up for the mayoral seat was unheard of.
Bass however has an extensive political track record. Prior to her election as Mayor, she served in the United States House of Representatives since 2011, represented the California 33rdcongressional district from 2011 – 2013. In 2008, she became the first African American woman to serve as speaker of the California State Assembly.
Bass’s election comes on the heels of the successful re-election of Raphael Warnock, the incumbent Senator of the state of Georgia. The November 2022 election season brought on several new individuals from various race, gender, and sexual persuasions, further exemplifying the shift in diversity within the leadership of United States politics.
Writers Maggie Astor and Stephanie Lai, in their 2022 article for The New York
Times, “A Diverse Field of Candidates Make History in the Midterms”, writes, “with more women nominated for governorships and state legislatures, more Black people nominated for the Senate and more L.G.B.T.Q. people nominated for the House than ever before.”
