By Beatriz Garay
This California midterm election has seen competent Governor Gavin Newsom reelected, while the Los Angeles mayoral election may finally bring a much needed new mayor to the position.
Counted ballots so far have Representative Karen Bass poised ahead of competing candidate Rick Caruso.
Voters in California are going to have to wait for a long period of time to get an accurate outcome of who will win this race. This is similar to the 2020 presidential election.
There was little surprise Newsom would win. Despite beating a recall last year by Californians, he still managed to win with a vast lead over his republican opponent Brian Dahle. This allows him to keep his seat in the highest position within California.
Regardless of this victory, Newsom has been in the spotlight over some controversies. Most notably his own actions during the pandemic, when he broke his own COVID-19 restrictions against holding social gatherings with more than three households.
He got a lot of attention for it and drove people, particularly his opponents, to assemble a coalition to remove him from his position as governor. This led to the recall in 2021.
He was one of the first state leaders to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic head-on.
Newsom has done well as governor.
It was his decisive actions that kept the number of deaths drastically lower than most other states during this time period.
“Politically, Governor Newsom has also shown incredible resilience since becoming governor in 2019. He beat a recall with an impressive margin and now won re-election with around 60%. Even more impressive is that he has managed to accomplish all of this with very little opposition from his own party,” Rogelio Garcia, ELAC of the Political Science professor, said.
Being governor is still a tough, heavy job to do since people rely on the state to handle a lot of everyday problems.
While the governor election is something worth watching, it is not as impactful as the Los Angeles Mayoral race in which it affects the lives of the residents in the city of LA rather than the whole state of California.
It is the first time in which Californians have had to wait an extended period of time for a proper winner to be announced. This is due to counting every vote fairly.
Los Angeles residents want a new mayor that knows how to address both homelessness and crime issues. The new mayor should bring new ideas to unite Angelenos as one group of people.
Both Bass and Caurso know how things are done in LA and have their own agendas.
Caurso’s plan depends on spending money that taxpayers and the city don’t have. Bass’s plan seems to be more promising as it uses existing systems.
“[Caruso’s] proposal to build new shelter beds for 30,000 people, costing around $800 million, is unimaginative. His plan to partner with developers to help build these shelters is worrisome and not feasible in his first term.
“Bass’s plan, while also underwhelming, at least will focus on existing infrastructure to reach her goals. Her plan involves expanding already existing programs, like housing vouchers, mental health services and Project Homekey. Which her campaign claims will house somewhere around 17,000 people and cost around $292 million,” Garcia said.
The main issue at hand for the next mayor of LA is if the person can handle the weight that comes with being mayor, while also delivering solutions to the issuesthat have plagued LA county for the last decade.
We just have to hope that the individual who wins the mayoral race is ready for what is to come, and uses an effective plan to address LA’s problems.
Mayor of LA is the toughest position in one of the toughest cities in the state. It is not going to be easy to handle. One false step can turn everything a campaign stood for into nothing.
It is time for a new chapter for Los Angeles in which we can deal with these problems head-on and give solutions that can put all of Angelenos’ worries to rest.