Rick Caruso has entered the mayor’s race. Will L.A. elect a billionaire?

Rick Caruso meets with the press Friday after filing paperwork to run for mayor of Los Angeles. Among other factors, Diaz cited the success of recent ballot measures related to housing and criminal justice reform that she said showed a preference for data-backed policy interventions aimed at root causes, rather than “penalizing people and going back to a ‘broken windows’ regime.” In a city that is nearly 50% Latino, the success of any mayoral candidate will depend, at least in part, on the ability to appeal to voters in that community. “So a mayor is going to have to articulate a policy agenda that centers Latino workers and Latino households in ways that they can remain in the city and not just survive but thrive.” Friday’s filing follows months of speculation about whether Caruso — who has toyed with the idea of a mayoral run for nearly two decades — would enter the race. For Caruso, “there should be enough of a wall between him as a potential mayor and him as a businessperson that people aren’t wondering, ‘Who is he making this decision for, us or himself?’” said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School and former Los Angeles City Ethics Commission president. “The last thing our city needs is transparently poll-driven vacillation on what should be core values,” Feuer said Friday morning, criticizing Caruso’s change in voter registration and prior support of anti-abortion politicians Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Mitch McConnell.