Karen Bass becomes the first Black woman to be elected mayor of Los Angeles in 241 years

On Wednesday, voters chose US representative Karen Bass over developer Rick Caruso to become the next mayor of Los Angeles, electing the first Black woman to hold the position as City Hall deals with a number of scandals that have damaged public confidence in the government, an out-of-control homelessness crisis, and rising crime rates.

Bass had a commanding lead of approximately 47,000 votes after 70% of the ballots had been counted. Bass, a Democrat who was a finalist for vice president on President-elect Joe Biden's short list, defeated millionaire Caruso's campaign, which had spent more than $100 million, by making the case that she would forge alliances and bring stability to a difficult city of over 4 million people.

Voters in the strongly Democratic city were put to the test in the election to see if they would abandon their liberal leanings and support a strategy that would place a major emphasis on public safety.