LA Mayor Race Shaken by Wildfire Allegations

Billionaire Rick Caruso is sticking with his decision to stay out of the race for Los Angeles mayor, despite raising the prospect he would reconsider following a news report that Mayor Karen Bass asked to soften an after-action investigation into last year’s deadly wildfires.

“Rick is incredibly moved by the outpouring of support but reached an earlier decision in a thoughtful process and it stands,” a spokesperson said in emailed message Thursday, a day after Caruso said he was considering entering the race. “He will not be a candidate for mayor.”

Bass’s re-election bid has faced renewed scrutiny following the publication of a Los Angeles Times report that she asked the city’s then-interim fire chief to remove key findings from an after-action report on the fires. The mayor has denied doing so.

The news has shaken up the mayoral campaign to lead the second-largest U.S. city.

Related: EPA Outlines Trump Plan to Speed up Rebuilding of Homes Destroyed in LA Wildfires

Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller filed Wednesday to run against Bass, the LA Times reported, while Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath has publicly mulled entering the race as well. Candidates have until Feb. 7 to file a declaration of candidacy for mayor.

Other contenders in the LA mayor election include reality TV star Spencer Pratt, whose Pacific Palisades house burned in the fires, and Rae Huang, a progressive housing activist.

On Thursday, another prospective LA mayor candidate, former investment banker and ex-LA school district superintendent Austin Beutner, announced he was dropping out of the mayoral race, citing the death last month of his 22-year-old daughter.

“My family has experienced the unimaginable loss of our beloved daughter Emily,” Beutner said in a statement. “She was a magical person, the light of our lives. We are still in mourning.”

Caruso, a real estate developer worth an estimated $5.8 billion and who spent more than $100 million in a losing effort against Bass in the last mayoral election, had announced last month he wouldn’t seek a rematch. Though he said Wednesday he was reconsidering that decision in the wake of the Times report, he ultimately decided to stay out of the race.

Related: The Return Period for An LA Wildfire-Scale Event May Be Shorter Than You Think

Bass, who is pursuing re-election, kicked off her campaign earlier this week, in a bid that underscored the city’s recovery from the wildfires and its upcoming role hosting sports events including this year’s World Cup soccer games and the 2028 Olympics.

Yet questions about her stewardship of the fires, and the city’s recovery, have weighed on her campaign.

At least 12 people died in the Palisades Fire, that rampaged through western Los Angeles County, and 19 were killed in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, an unincorporated area east of the city.

Nearly, half of Angelenos gave Bass an unfavorable rating last year, according to a survey by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs — results sharply lower than from the same poll the year before the fires.

Those concerns rekindled Wednesday when the LA Times, citing people familiar, said the final report watered down accounts of the city’s failure to pre-deploy resources before the January 2025 Palisades Fire, fearing it could expose the city to legal liabilities.

Bass denied that she or her staff ordered changes to the report and cited her record of criticizing the fire response, including dismissing the fire chief.

“This is muckraking journalism at its lowest form,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “It is dangerous and irresponsible for Los Angeles Times reporters to rely on third hand unsourced information to make unsubstantiated character attacks to advance a narrative that is false.”

Caruso called the situation “an absolute outrage,” in a post on X.

Today’s @latimes report is an absolute outrage. Karen Bass actively covered up a report meant to examine the most significant disaster in Los Angeles history. When it comes to life safety matters, this is no longer a matter of making poor judgement, apologizing and moving… https://t.co/YT6qL0IIFt
— Rick J. Caruso (@RickCarusoLA) February 4, 2026

If no candidate gets more than 50% in the June primary, the two highest vote getters will face off in the November general election.

Top photo: Rick Caruso and Karen Bass Photographer: /Bloomberg.