By Dennis J. Freeman
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — Mayor Karen Bass came to her joint Election Night watch party at the Loews Hollywood Hotel clearly fired up and ready to go.
After serving as the city’s chief executive for four years — and having faced turbulent times — Bass had a slight lead over mayoral rival Nithya Raman when she took the stage and delivered a speech that seemed to inspire and galvanize her supporters.
“Let me just say it takes a while to count the vote in our city, but pretty soon we will know,” Bass told her followers election night. “ And I am confident with all of the work that is done here that we will achieve victory. I love Los Angeles. I believe in this city and I will always fight for the city we deserve.”
“As we await the votes to be counted, there is one thing that I can tell you with absolute certainty: I have never been more proud of our city, more grateful for its people and more hopeful about what we can accomplish together,” she added.
Speaking to another group of supporters earlier, Bass was perhaps even more blunt in her analysis: “It ain’t over,” she said, “till it’s over.”
By the early morning Nov. 4, Bass’ lead over City Councilwoman Raman had evaporated, with Raman holding a 51-49 percentage lead with plenty of votes remaining to be counted. Bass trailed by 17,000 votes as of 4 p.m. Nov. 4.
Bass volunteer Teresa Hillery, a Los Angeles city attorney, said she supported the mayor because she believes Bass puts people first above everything else.
“I live downtown and I believe she is the best person for downtown, in terms of moving the economic hub forward,” said Hillery, also a real estate attorney. “Downtown is like the major economic hub for Los Angeles.”
The Rev. William D. Smart Jr has known Bass for three decades. Founder of the “Hurting and Hungry” ministry, Smart said that the compassion that Bass has shown to others is something that has always been at the core of who the mayor is as an individual.
“Her heart has been there all along,” said Smart, president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leader Conference. “You need to measure her by her sensitivity to people. That was always important for the 30 years I’ve known her. … She put people over politics.”
City Councilman Curren Price agreed, saying that Bass is someone who represents all Angelenos in the way she handles herself and how she tackles hard issues head-on without flinching.
“She has been a leader that has brought people together. She’s demonstrated the ability to collaborate, to tackle tough problems, and actually be resilient,” Price said. “I think that she’s got history … a track record of working together, dealing with problems and really facing the future.”
Among those attending election night celebration were Price (District 9), Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece-Harris Dawson (District 8), and Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez (District 13).
Soto-Martinez said he threw his allegiance to Bass because he has been familiar with how she gets things done.
“I’ve known the mayor’s work for many years,” Soto-Martinez said. “I grew up in South Los Angeles. I know of the work she was involved in … the Community Coalition, followed her career. I’ve had the pleasure of working with her for almost four years.
“We speak the same language, how to organize. We came from the same community in L.A., so there’s a lot of familiarity. We work well together.”
Dennis Freeman is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers.
