One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Joe Buscaino Withdraws From LA Mayor's Race, Endorses Caruso
L.A. City Councilmember Joe Buscaino is withdrawing from the race for mayor.
(
James Evers for LAist
)
Los Angeles City Councilmember Joe Buscaino dropped out of the race for mayor Thursday and endorsed businessman Rick Caruso. Buscaino was polling at 1% among 12 candidates in the race, according to an April poll by the UC Berkeley Institute for Governmental Studies.
New Voter Game Plan For The November 2022 Elections Coming Soon! Check Back In Early October. Have a question in the meantime? Ask it now, we're here to help.
“Rick and I agree on the playbook to solve the city’s pressing issues,” Buscaino said in a joint statement with Caruso. “Today’s decision did not come easy, but the future of Los Angeles is my priority.”
Buscaino and Caruso have campaigned on hiring an additional 1,500 police officers and more aggressively using them to clear homeless encampments from the streets. They both also promised to build more temporary shelters.
But Buscaino, a former LAPD sergeant, never broke double digits in the polls. Caruso, a billionaire, rocketed to the top of the pack of candidates by spending more than $20 million on his campaign. That’s more than his competitors' spending combined.
In addition, the Los Angeles Police Protective League — the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers — has a war chest of nearly $2 million for a negative ad campaign against Karen Bass, the only candidate holding her own with Caruso in the polls.
Sponsored message
Caruso and Bass are polling at 24% and 23% respectively among likely voters. All other candidates are polling in the single digits. If nobody wins a majority of vote in the June 7 primary, the top two vote-getters will face off in November.
“I have tremendous respect for Joe and his deep commitment to the people of Los Angeles,” Caruso said in the statement. “I’m honored to have his endorsement and look forward to his counsel on issues like homelessness and criminal justice."
You can watch Buscaino's May 4 conversation with our newsroom about what he'd hoped to do as mayor.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
