Socialist candidate runs against Los Angeles mayor

By Dave Mason
The Center Square

A trend of socialist mayoral candidates in the nation’s biggest cities is continuing with housing advocate Rae Chen Huang’s candidacy against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Huang, a senior organizer with the Housing Now! California coalition, announced her candidacy Saturday on Instagram. Huang followed up with a campaign rally Sunday at Arts District Brewing Co. in downtown Los Angeles, where the ordained Presbyterian minister called for making housing affordable for everyone and providing free mass transit.

“We are going to make sure that wages and work are dignified,” said Rev. Huang, a member of the board of Creating Justice, an organization promoting economic justice for the homeless people living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row.

Media reports describe Huang as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and quote her as saying she would like the endorsement of DSA’s Los Angeles chapter.

She’s the third candidate so far in the 2026 race, which also includes Andrew Beutner, a former Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent. Bass previously announced she’s running for reelection. Developer Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in 2022, hasn’t announced whether he will run for mayor again in the nation’s second-largest city.

Mayoral candidates will square off in the June 2, 2026 primary. If no one gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote getters will face each other in the Nov. 4 general election. That’s a bigger possibility with the addition of a third candidate, although Huang isn’t as well known as Bass or Beutner.

The mayoral position is nonpartisan, but Democrats have served as mayor of Los Angeles since 2001. The last Republican was Richard Riordan in 1993-2001.

Huang’s candidacy follows the Nov. 4 elections of Democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York and Katie Wilson, who has been compared to Mamdani, as mayor of Seattle. Although Wilson isn’t a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, she said she’s fine with being called a Democrat or a socialist or both.

Like Wilson, Huang, 43, is a community organizer. If elected, she would be Los Angeles’ first Asian-American mayor.

“This fight is not my own, but built on years of dedication and commitment of leaders before me who have fought to make LA more affordable, healthier, sustainable and safer for all,” Huang wrote in announcing her candidacy on Instagram. “My platform will be focused on housing for all, building an economy for the people – not billionaires, fast and free metro, climate resiliency, and REAL safety through care first models – so that we focus on fighting poverty, not the poor.” Her reference to “metro” marked her support for free mass transit.

Huang said she’s running against the establishment and will not accept campaign donations from corporations.

“I believe in the working people who are the backbone of this country,” Huang said. “And I believe we can win a city that is led with love and justice at the center and at the helm.”

“For too long, City Hall has prioritized the interests of the powerful and connected over the needs of working people,” Huang said in a different Instagram post.

The Center Square reached out Monday to Huang to request an interview, but did not get a response.

Bass’ campaign staff responded to The Center Square’s request for an interview with the mayor or her spokesperson by issuing a statement.

“Under Mayor Bass’s leadership, there has been unprecedented progress on the issues that matter most to Angelenos,” spokesman Douglas Herman told The Center Square in an email. “Homelessness has declined for the first time in two consecutive years, neighborhoods are safer with significant drops in crime, and the Palisades fire recovery continues far ahead of pace with the fastest recovery and rebuilding in California history.”

“In addition, there was no better defender of Los Angeles than Mayor Karen Bass when Trump’s ICE raids started, and we won a court ruling to help stop the illegal raids and unconstitutional arrests,” Herman said about this year’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. “That’s what we need to move Los Angeles forward.”

Bass, though, has faced criticism for her handling of the devastating Palisades Fire. There was a petition in March to recall Bass, who was in the African nation of Ghana for its presidential inauguration as the Palisades Fire started on Jan. 7. The recall, which required about 330,000 signatures, didn’t make it onto the Nov. 4 ballot.

Bass left Los Angeles despite National Weather Service warnings about dangerous fire conditions.

Bass said it was a mistake for her not to be in California when the Palisades Fire started, but she blamed Fire Chief Kristin Crowley for placing 1,000 firefighters off duty and the chief’s alleged refusal to conduct an after-action fire report. Bass removed Crowley as fire chief, and Crowley accepted a demotion.

Bass brought Ronnie Villanueva out of retirement to serve as interim chief until a permanent chief was named. That happened on Friday with the Los Angeles City Council’s confirmation of Deputy Chief Jaime Moore as the new chief. Bass appointed him to the permanent chief position Oct. 24. Moore, who was commander of operations at the department’s Valley Bureau before the promotion, has been with the department since 1995.

In August, Crowley filed a legal claim against Los Angeles and Bass, claiming Bass ran “a campaign of misinformation, defamation and retaliation” to blame Crowley for the fires.