Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was in office through one of the worst urban disasters in recent years as the Pacific Palisades fire destroyed more than 6,500 homes, according to city tallies. Despite ample warnings from the National Weather Service that potentially cataclysmic winds were bound for the city in the heart of its fire season, Bass headed to Ghana for a diplomatic event and was in Africa as the city burned.
Meanwhile, on her watch, Los Angeles fell deeper into the nation’s most severe homeless crisis. When the former Democratic congressional representative took power in City Hall circa 2022, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported more than 67,000 homeless people in the city. After four years under Bass and her $300 million “Inside Safe” program, a recent Los Angeles Times report found a reduction of fewer than 2,400 people, with more than 44% returning to the streets. An overwhelmed and understaffed LAPD continues to fight off the theft and violence generated by that surging homeless population.
Regardless, Bass easily found her way onto this autumn’s mayoral ballot and remains on course for reelection later this year. Los Angeles serves as a microcosm of a larger phenomenon — one example from a single American city of a pattern repeating itself in deep-blue regions across the country: Left-leaning urban voters seem remarkably tolerant of failed government…