Karen Bass: Small in Stature, Miles of Experience, and a Compass That Hasn’t Lost Its North

AN IMPORTANT DECISION - What do we look for in the people who ask us to entrust them with public office, especially when the problems confronting us seem almost beyond anyone's ability to solve?

Perhaps the most revealing question isn't what a candidate promises to do, but what a lifetime tells us about the person making those promises.

I don't mean to belabor the whole moral compass analogy. Heaven knows it's been used and overused. But these days, perhaps more than ever, it's worth asking whether a candidate's moral compass is properly calibrated—or spinning out of control.

People change their minds. Sometimes they should. Experience teaches us things, and there's nothing wrong with admitting we were mistaken. But there's a difference between changing your mind because you've learned something and changing direction with every prevailing wind, north one day, south the next.

It's a distinction worth considering as I reflect on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Recently, I attended a small gathering with Mayor Karen Bass. Perhaps because she was among friends and familiar faces, she seemed more relaxed, candid, and plainspoken than I've seen her in interviews or public appearances. It was an opportunity to see a side of Bass that doesn't often come across in the public arena, and I came away with a different appreciation of the woman behind the office.

With Angelenos approaching an important decision about who will lead Los Angeles and the direction our city will take, I feel compelled to share those impressions.

Where She Came From

Bass is a native Angeleno whose life has taken her from the neighborhoods of Los Angeles to the California Legislature, the halls of Congress, and eventually back home to City Hall.

Before entering politics, Bass worked as a nurse and later as a physician assistant. At the gathering, she spoke about her experience in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), caring for the most fragile of lives, premature and critically ill newborns, and dealing with the frightened, anxious parents whose lives had suddenly been turned upside down. It's an experience that offers a different perspective on the responsibilities of caring for others.

In 1990, she founded Community Coalition in South Los Angeles, bringing residents together to confront the devastating effects of the crack cocaine epidemic, violence, and neighborhood neglect.

In 2004, Bass was elected to the California Assembly. Four years later, she became the first Black woman in American history to serve as Speaker of a state legislative chamber.

Her tenure coincided with the Great Recession, when California faced an extraordinary budget crisis. Bass worked with Republican legislative leaders to negotiate an agreement during one of the state's most difficult financial periods. Those efforts earned her and three fellow legislative leaders the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

She subsequently represented Los Angeles in Congress for twelve years, chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, and returned home to become mayor in December 2022.

It's a considerable résumé, but the offices themselves tell only part of the story.

The Wisdom of Knowing the Difference

At the gathering, Bass made a distinction I had never considered when judging candidates for public office.

Some enter politics without deciding whether they want to be activists, organizers, or people responsible for governing.

Activists demand change. Organizers bring people together to achieve it. Governing means making decisions for people whose interests and opinions may differ sharply.

It also means finding common ground with people who disagree with you without abandoning your principles.

Bass has done all three.

Her relationship with Republican Kevin McCarthy is one example. They worked together in Sacramento and Washington despite their differences. When Bass sought Republican involvement in a congressional caucus for children in foster care, McCarthy helped.

Some of life’s hardest experiences, of course, have nothing to do with politics.

In 2006, her daughter, Emilia, and son-in-law, Michael Wright, were killed in an automobile accident.

I cannot imagine the magnitude of that loss, nor would I presume to know how she has carried it. But somehow, she has, continuing in public service and looking out for others.

Governing America's Second-Largest City: Serious Challenges

Los Angeles has nearly four million residents spread across more than 500 square miles. Governing it is a 24-hour responsibility, with wildfires, earthquakes, and other emergencies never far from anyone's mind.

Homelessness remains a humanitarian crisis. Housing costs are pushing families to the brink, while older residents struggle to stay housed and younger generations struggle to afford homes of their own.

On her first day in office, Bass declared a homelessness emergency and later launched Inside Safe to bring people indoors.

The January 2025 wildfires tested the city’s emergency preparedness and its leadership.

Housing policies have also generated conflict in established residential neighborhoods, where zoning and development rules are changing.

At the gathering, I asked Bass about those changes, particularly in the San Fernando Valley. She turned to Councilmember John Lee and suggested they work with Sacramento to find relief for our communities. Lee agreed.

Progress Versus Perfection

Perfection is not a standard we can hold any human being to, much less someone expected to solve decades of problems in four years. Progress, however, is something we can measure.

Annual homelessness counts have declined, including the number of people living unsheltered. Inside Safe has brought thousands indoors, even as the question of lasting housing remains.

Homicides have also fallen substantially, with the 2025 total reported as the lowest since 1966. The decline is real, even if no mayor can claim all the credit.

The city also strengthened tenant protections under its rent-stabilization rules and streamlined rebuilding permits after the 2025 fires.

Progress ought to count, and the facts are that progress has been made.

Accountability Is Essential. So Is Perspective.

It is easy to blame whoever holds office for everything wrong with the city, regardless of how long the problems have existed.

That is a master class in stupidity masquerading as political analysis.

Los Angeles did not become unaffordable in four years. Its infrastructure did not deteriorate in four years. Its homelessness crisis did not begin when Karen Bass became mayor.

That does not put her decisions beyond examination. It puts them in context.

And with the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games approaching, the demands on the city will only grow.

Four years cannot reverse decades of neglect. But it gives us a record of priorities, decisions, and results to examine.

Los Angeles has no shortage of people promising to take the city in a different direction. But before following anyone down a new road, it's worth asking if they know where they're going, have traveled difficult roads before, and whether they understand the people they're asking to follow them.

Karen Bass has traveled more than her share of difficult roads. Some were political. Others were painfully personal. Through it all, she has continued to find her way back to public service.

A compass doesn't guarantee an easy journey. It doesn't prevent mistakes, eliminate obstacles, or tell us how long the road will be.

But it does tell us something about direction. And after all these years, Karen Bass is crystal clear on where her north is.

(Eva Amar is a San Fernando Valley community/housing advocate and nationally recognized victim advocate for campus sexual violence.)