Local Billionaire registers as Democrat ahead of mayor’s race
By Sam Catanzaro
Billionaire real estate mogul and possible 2022 Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso announced last week he changed his voter registration to Democrat a sign up for a potential bid in the upcoming race.
Caruso – who for almost a decade of being registered with no party preference– contemplated running for mayor in 2013 but decided not to. Caruso said in a statement on his Twitter last week that he will make a decision soon regarding the upcoming race. The filing deadline is February 12.
“For more than a decade I have been registered to vote with no party preference — I have been a true political centrist — because neither the Democratic nor the Republican parties captured what I believed we needed to do as a nation,” Caruso said. “In short, because our upcoming elections in 2022 and 2024 will be existential for our democracy, now is the time for me to take a side. Today I am registered as a Democrat so that I can stand firmly on the side of the fundamental values that we will all need to invoke and enforce to thwart the coming attacks on our democracy.”
Caruso was registered as a Republican before 2012, as reported by the Los Angeles Daily News.
Caruso, the developer behind The Grove, Palisades Village among other retail centers, served as the president of the civilian police commission after being appointed in August 2001. He also served on the Board of Water and Power Commissioners.
He said in his statement that he would be a “pro-centrist, pro-jobs, pro-public safety Democrat.”
Other mayoral candidates, include Rep. Karen Bass, L.A. City Councilmen Joe Buscaino and Kevin de León and City Attorney Mike Feuer. The primary for the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election will take place on June 7, with the top two finishers facing off in the election on November 8.
Caruso this week announced that he had contracted a mild case of COVID-19.
