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LA Mayoral Race: Black Women Leaders Promise to ‘Provide Cover’ for Rep. Karen Bass

Last week, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37) announced that she is running to be the first woman mayor of Los Angeles – and the second African American to serve as CEO of California’s largest city.

Published

4 years ago

October 4, 2021

Christy Price

Rep. Karen Bass/Wikimedia Commons

Last week, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA-37) announced that she is running to be the first woman mayor of Los Angeles – and the second African American to serve as CEO of California’s largest city.

A few days later, an influential group of about 45 civic, political, academic and business leaders called the California Black Women Collective joined hands on a Zoom call for what the meeting’s host Kellie Todd Griffin called “a party” to support the mayoral candidacy of the sitting, six-term U.S. Congresswoman.

Griffin, the Senior Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at the California Health Medical Reserve Corps, is a Los Angeles area-based organizer and entrepreneur known in California’s political circles for her outspoken advocacy for African American issues.

“It will be a victory. We are claiming it right now,” said Dezie Woods-Jones, talking about Bass’s mayoral run. Woods-Jones, a Bay Area political strategist is president of Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), the oldest African American political organization in the state.

“I am really proud of Black women who always make a difference in elections. I like to come back and remind us that sometimes we don’t brag enough about ourselves,” Woods-Jones continued, referring to the fact that African American women are the most loyal voting bloc in Democratic electoral politics across the country. “We should not be embarrassed to say that we have been the people who have, across the board, come to the forefront and made a difference. We consistently show up and show out.”

After praising Bass for her ability to negotiate with her colleagues and build coalitions across racial, ethnic, cultural and other lines that may divide Americans, Woods Jones announced BWOPA’s official endorsement of Bass.

Looking back at her experience working as Bass’ chief of staff when she was a California Assemblymember representing the 47^th District in Southern California, Nolice Edwards praised Bass for her accomplishments, including her election as Speaker of the State Assembly from 2008 to 2010.

Bass said one reason she decided to run for the Assembly was the fact that there were no Black women serving in the state Legislature at the time.

Edwards, who has over 30 years of state government leadership experience, is now an independent political consultant based in Sacramento.

“She is strategic. She is politically savvy. She is a coalition builder,” Edwards continued, describing her former boss. “She is a founder of a community coalition where her advocacy helped to make sure that Black and Brown communities were taken care of and serviced and provided for in the right way.”

Bass thanked the women on the call for their support.

“It is all this energy, love and spirit that will allow me to go on this journey and the idea that you will walk with me on this journey – this will be the toughest journey I’ve ever been on, so from the bottom of my heart, I can’t thank you enough,” she said.

Bass went on to explain some of the reasons she is running for mayor.

“L.A. is in crisis,” she emphasized. “L.A. is in a crisis because we have 40,000 people living on the streets. And, if I include Compton, which is part of the county, there is 20,000 more people. That is 60,000 people who are without shelter on any given night. Unfortunately, in the city of Los Angeles, Black folks are 9 % of the population and 40 % of the people who are homeless. This is a humanitarian crisis.”

Bass, who said she is driven when people are front-and-center in her policymaking, urged her colleagues to implement smarter and longer-term solutions to address stubborn issues like homelessness — instead of opting to adopt temporary quick fixes.

“It is not OK to arrest our people. That is not a solution,” Bass said. “It is not OK to get rid of the encampments and just move them into areas where the communities do not have the resources to challenge it in court. That is not OK.”

Bass asked, “Why can’t we in the nation’s second largest city — that has the wealth figure out how to house 40,000 people?”

The women on the call also promised to back Bass with their financial support, launching a challenge to each woman to donate $50 per week for 15 weeks.

“So far, in Los Angeles, this is our Tom Bradley moment,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, referring to the city’s first African American mayor, who was elected in 1973.

“We have not had, in too many years, a Black candidate that all of us can coalesce around,” Mitchell continued. “We have to do this. This is our moment to stand up for a progressive Black woman to lead the second largest city in the country. We have to have her back and provide her cover.”

So far, U.S. Reps Pete Aguilar (D-CA-31), Judy Chu (D-CA-27), Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Ted Lieu (D-CA-33), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA-47), Katie Porter (D-CA-45), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA-40) and Juan Vargas (D-CA-51) have all pledged their support for Bass.

At least 30 Southern California political leaders have done the same, including Sen. Steve Bradford (D-Gardena); Sen. Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles); LA County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Sheila Kuehl; and LA City Councilmen Mike Bonin, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Curren Price and Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Before leaving the meeting early to cast votes in Congress, Bass described what her candidacy for mayor will look like.

“It will be a grassroots campaign that brings the city together,” she said. “Black, Brown, White, Asian – brings everybody together. We are going to formally launch with a grassroots kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 16. Although I’m running to win, it will also be an opportunity to build a movement: getting people excited, energized and involved.”

Christy Price

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

1 week ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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1 week ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

1 week ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke