LA Mayor Bass’ political future in turmoil after fire response backlash

Less than two weeks after the start of what has become one of the state’s most destructive natural disasters, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass continues to face backlash for her response to the Southern California wildfires, with critics demanding her resignation and some even floating a recall effort.

The first-term mayor, who is seeking reelection next year, has lost some goodwill with voters. But the question remains: If she hasn’t resigned or been recalled, is there still time for Bass to repair her image before the June 2026 primary election?

The answer depends on whom you ask.

“The damage that Karen Bass has suffered, I don’t think it’s repairable,” said veteran political consultant Garry South.

“Let’s face it: She was ill-advisedly in Africa, of all places, when the fires broke out, leaving even after the warnings of fire danger and extreme high winds had been made public,” South added. “And even though she rushed home to a degree … she’s appeared shaky, defensive and behind the curve on the ground.”

“She’s been on the defensive … snapping at reporters. It has all the hallmark of somebody with a guilty conscience who knows that they screwed up, which has not been very reassuring to the public,” said South, who said he voted for Bass in the 2022 mayoral election.

Bill Burton, another political consultant who volunteered on Bass’ successful mayoral campaign, said the criticisms of her being in Ghana when the fires erupted are “profoundly unfair.” Bass traveled to the West African country as part of a Biden administration delegation for the inauguration of Ghana’s new president.

Burton also said the notion that Bass should resign is “completely preposterous.”

“I’m sympathetic to the fact that she’s got a very important job at a profoundly important moment for Los Angeles,” said Burton. “And she’s got to keep her head above the criticisms and continue to do that job. It’s difficult for anybody to have that consequential a job and not face criticism. … It’s the nature of politics. But good leaders are able to rise above that and continue to do their job.”

With the 2026 primary election more than 16 months away, Burton said there’s plenty of time for voters with a negative view of Bass to change their minds.

“A year-and-a-half is an absolute eternity in politics,” he said.

Others maintain that it is not long enough for the frustration and anger that some Angelenos are experiencing to dissipate.

South, who worked for former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’ campaigns, noted that California’s energy crisis occurred in 2000 and 2001 — but it wasn’t until 2003 that Davis was recalled.

“Once the public impression of an elected official, particularly if it’s negative, sets in, there’s not a lot you can do,” said South, who predicted that a recall question would qualify for the ballot.

Multiple change.org petitions are circulating, with petitioners demanding Bass’ resignation. One petition, with more than 153,000 signatures as of Friday, Jan. 17, called for Bass’ immediate resignation or a recall.

While a change.org petition isn’t the official way to get a recall question on the ballot, Politico, citing an anonymous source, reported that Silicon Valley billionaire Nicole Shanahan is “actively involved” in a recall attempt of Bass and is preparing to fund it. Shanahan was Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate this past election cycle during his abandoned third-party presidential campaign.

Bass’ office did not respond to a request to interview the mayor for this article.

On Friday, the mayor announced the appointment of former Los Angeles Police Commission President Steve Soboroff as the city’s chief recovery officer to oversee rebuilding and recovery efforts.

And earlier in the week, Bass issued a sweeping emergency executive order to remove barriers and accelerate efforts for homeowners and businesses to rebuild.

“This unprecedented natural disaster warrants an unprecedented response that will expedite the rebuilding of homes, businesses and communities,” Bass said then. “This order is the first step in clearing away red tape and bureaucracy to organize around urgency, common sense and compassion. We will do everything we can to get Angelenos back home.”

Burton said Bass’ leadership style has been to put her head down and get to work — despite outside noise.

The mayor and her office have been inundated with questions since the first fire broke out on Jan. 7 — everything from whether Bass regretted her trip to Ghana and if she should apologize to Angelenos for being away to whether the city cut the fire department’s budget and left it ill-equipped to battle the flames to whether city officials failed to ensure that L.A. had enough water to respond to massive fires.

Bass’ administration has maintained that cuts to areas of the fire department’s budget did not impact firefighters’ ability to respond to the fires, despite comments from L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley that suggest otherwise. The fire chief recently lashed out against city officials, saying the city “failed” her and her department.

The mayor’s public relations crisis had not let up this past week either. She’s had to weather reports that she said, while campaigning for mayor, that she would not travel abroad for work and others that she was attending a cocktail party in Ghana when the Palisades fire broke out.

A spokesperson for Bass told the Los Angeles Times that while the mayor was at a U.S. embassy event in Ghana when the fire started, Bass spent most of that time on phone calls about the situation erupting in Los Angeles. Bass also previously said she took a military plane home for the first leg of her trip back from Ghana, thus enabling her to be accessible by phone the entire time.

Although some of Bass’ critics have acknowledged that she is not to blame for the once-in-a-generation hurricane-forced winds that led to fast-spreading flames, Bass has deflected many questions from reporters about her trip to Ghana and whether the city was prepared to battle major fires.

That deflection has stoked the flames for more criticisms about her leadership.

Bass, for her part, has said there will be plenty of time once the city is out of imminent danger for a review of what did — or should have — happened.