With 38% of the vote yet to be counted, Democratic congresswoman Karen Bass took a slim lead Friday in the Los Angeles Mayoral race against billionaire businessman Rick Caruso,
The latest batch showed Bass ahead with 289,782 votes, a razor-thin 50.38% of the total. That’s 4,384 votes more than Caruso’s 285,398 votes, but it is enough (for now) to reverse the slim lead he had before mail-in ballots could be counted.
Both candidates have expressed optimism in winning the race. On Thursday, Caruso urged patience in statement posted on Twitter.
“As predicted, this is a close race. There are hundreds of thousands of votes to count and as expected we are going to see different results each time,” Caruso wrote. “I continue to be cautiously optimistic about these numbers and look forward to the next series of results in the coming weeks.”
Bass hasn’t issued a statement since taking the lead, but on Wednesday she said on Twitter, “We feel great about the numbers so far. As we await the next rounds of updates, know we’re already rolling up our sleeves to launch urgent solutions for homelessness, crime and affordability. The people of L.A. sent a clear message last night. I am ready to answer their call.”
The county is continuing to count the remaining votes, which could take days.