Los Angeles residents who lost everything in the Palisades Fire say Mayor Karen Bass failed them while their neighborhood burned — yet many of them plan to vote for her anyway.
Story Snapshot
- Four Pacific Palisades fire survivors told reporters they blame Mayor Karen Bass for failures surrounding the January 2025 blaze but still intend to vote for her reelection.
- Bass was in Ghana when the fire ignited on January 7, 2025, a fact survivors repeatedly cite as evidence of poor leadership.
- Developer Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in 2022, announced he will vote for her again despite past disagreements over the fire response.
- Challenger Nithya Raman forced Bass into a runoff after voters expressed deep frustration over the city’s wildfire response and homelessness policy.
Survivors Describe Anger They Cannot Shake
A survivor identified as Madok told reporters she believes Bass’s actions directly contributed to her town burning down. “Do I think Karen’s actions resulted in our town burning down? Yes,” she said, also criticizing how slowly promised rebuilding assistance arrived after the fire destroyed her home.
The fire tore through Pacific Palisades on January 7, 2025, while Bass was traveling in Ghana, killing several people and causing billions of dollars in damage. That timing became a lasting symbol for residents who felt abandoned during one of the worst disasters in the city’s modern history.
Polling Shows Deep Disapproval Months Later
A survey found just 25.5% of respondents approved of Bass’s job performance, while 71.7% disapproved, numbers that reflect lasting anger over the fire response. That frustration fueled a primary challenge from Pacific Palisades fire victim Spencer Pratt, whose entire campaign centered on one message: Bass failed the Palisades. More than 200,000 voters backed him.
Why the Anger Has Not Translated to Votes Against Her
Despite that fury, Bass is drawing support from voters who say they still blame her. Real estate developer Rick Caruso, who lost the 2022 mayoral race to Bass and has sharply criticized her wildfire response, announced he will vote for her this November. “I will be casting my ballot for Mayor Karen Bass,” Caruso said, while stopping short of a full endorsement.
Caruso credited Bass’s willingness to work with him on rebuilding Pacific Palisades and said she has learned from past mistakes, even as he acknowledged the two have “certainly had our disagreements”. For many survivors, that pragmatic calculation — sticking with a known leader during recovery rather than gambling on an untested one — appears to outweigh their frustration over how the disaster was handled.
Bass Faces a Runoff After Raman Challenge
Councilmember Nithya Raman forced Bass into a runoff this cycle, capitalizing on criticism over both the Palisades Fire and a more recent fire at a Lineage Logistics facility that fouled the air over Boyle Heights. Bass, 72, is seeking a second term in the November 3 election and has called herself “an activist fighting for change” while making her closing pitch on policing and housing.
Bass Acknowledges Regret, Makes Final Pitch
Bass said on October 30 that she hopes lessons from her first term, including her biggest wildfire regret, will win back frustrated voters still reeling from the January 2025 disaster. Research on disaster voting patterns shows this kind of split reaction is common nationwide: voters often separate blame for a disaster itself from their willingness to reward an incumbent who delivers visible recovery efforts afterward.
That pattern appears to be playing out in Los Angeles. Survivors describe Bass using phrases like “the devil you know,” choosing familiarity and continued access to rebuilding assistance over the uncertainty of a new administration. Whether that calculation holds through Election Day will determine if a mayor widely blamed for one of the city’s worst disasters keeps her job anyway.
For conservative voters watching from outside California, the episode is a familiar lesson in big-city, one-party governance: accountability rarely follows failure. A mayor who was out of the country when a historic fire broke out, and who presided over widespread disapproval afterward, remains the frontrunner simply because no credible alternative emerged to challenge entrenched political machinery.
Sources:
nypost.com, 19thnews.org, us.headtopics.com, yahoo.com, 1stheadlines.com, westsidecurrent.com
