Los Angeles businessman and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso came out against the recall effort against his former opponent Mayor Karen Bass (D) on Tuesday, saying the city needs “unity” following the region’s deadly wildfires earlier this year.
“A mayoral recall right now is not a good idea. This is a time when Los Angeles needs unity, not costly and expensive political distractions,” Caruso said in a post on X.
“We must rebuild our communities, get people back into their homes, and open businesses that have been closed or lost. That must be our total focus. There is a time and place for politics, but it is not now,” he said.
Caruso’s comments come after he was initially critical of Bass’s handling of the wildfires in January.
“We’ve got a mayor that’s out of the country and a city that’s burning and there’s no resources to put out fires,” Caruso told Fox 11 News in Los Angeles, referring to Bass being on an official trip in Africa at the time of the fires’ outbreak. “It looks like we’re in a third-world country, and we’ve got a lot of tough questions that we need to ask the mayor and the city council and our representatives and the county representatives. Why didn’t you work to mitigate this?”
Caruso has been floated as a potential 2026 gubernatorial candidate. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is term-limited.
Bass is facing a recall effort led by Nicole Shanahan, who was the 2024 presidential running mate of now-Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. The effort is over Bass’s handling of the wildfires earlier this year.
In an interview with KNX News in Los Angeles last week, Bass said she “would never quit on my city.”
“Did I know that it was a difficult job? Absolutely. Am I ready for the job? Most definitely,” Bass told the outlet.
The recall effort needs 330,000 ballot signatures over a four-month time period.
