Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Before Taking Office, LA’s Mayor Said She Would Not Go Abroad
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 3 weeks ago on
January 14, 2025

Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles during a news conference outside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, July 18, 2024. Many Los Angeles leaders said they were confident the city would rebound to mount a well-run Summer Games. (Alex Welsh/The New York Times)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

After the first rally in her campaign for mayor of Los Angeles in 2021, Karen Bass spoke candidly about what she saw as a potential drawback to the job — a lack of world travel and involvement in global affairs.

Bass was accustomed to circling the globe as a Democratic member of Congress and of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and had spent decades working on U.S.-Africa relations. It was one of the most absorbing parts of her political career, she told The New York Times in an interview on Oct. 17, 2021, at her home in the Baldwin Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.

“I went to Africa every couple of months, all the time,” she said, adding, “The idea of leaving that, especially the international work and the Africa work, I was like, ‘Mmm, I don’t think I want to do that.’”

Bass Says She Would Not Travel Internationally

She ultimately decided that she did, telling the Times that if she was elected mayor, “not only would I, of course, live here, but I also would not travel internationally — the only places I would go would be D.C., Sacramento, San Francisco and New York, in relation to LA.”

That pledge has been spectacularly broken.

When a cascade of deadly and destructive wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles region Tuesday, the mayor was on her way home from Ghana in West Africa, where she attended the inauguration of a new president.

It was not her first trip abroad as mayor. A review of her public daily schedule for the past year shows Bass has traveled out of the country at city expense at least four other times in recent months before the Ghana visit.

Her broken promise to cut off overseas travel and her busy international schedule since becoming mayor in December 2022 scarcely registered with the public before the wildfires, and Los Angeles voters accepted the mayor’s identity not just as a municipal leader but as a Washington-style global player. Now, though, her decision to leave the country at a time when the National Weather Service was warning of “extreme fire weather conditions” has set off a political crisis for Bass.

Rivals have lashed out. Liberal supporters whose homes burned down have become outraged critics. An online petition demanding her immediate resignation has attracted more than 100,000 signatures. MAGA Republicans and their allies have swarmed social media, amplifying and exploiting the anger.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Shawn Hubler and Soumya Karlamangla/Alex Welsh
c. 2025 The New York Times Company

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Alaska Legislature Asks Trump to Retain Denali’s Name

DON'T MISS

Driver Facing DUI, Drug, and Gun Charges After Pursuit in Visalia

DON'T MISS

Flu Season in the US Is the Most Intense It’s Been in at Least 15 Years

DON'T MISS

Visalia Woman Sentenced to 5 Years for High-Speed Chase That Injured Officer

DON'T MISS

More Active Duty Troops Will Head to US-Mexico Border, Bringing the Total to 3,600

DON'T MISS

Police Search for Missing Fresno Man Last Seen in Bay Area

DON'T MISS

Martin, Pardoned for Jan. 6, Sent to Lompoc Prison on Gun Charge Conviction

DON'T MISS

Spring Training Preview: Dodgers Are Favored to Be MLB’s First Repeat Champion

DON'T MISS

With Immigrant Backgrounds, Vang, Leon Barraza Seek Fresno Council Seat

DON'T MISS

Justice Department Won’t Release Names of FBI Agents Who Worked on Jan. 6 Riot Cases

UP NEXT

Driver Facing DUI, Drug, and Gun Charges After Pursuit in Visalia

UP NEXT

Flu Season in the US Is the Most Intense It’s Been in at Least 15 Years

UP NEXT

Visalia Woman Sentenced to 5 Years for High-Speed Chase That Injured Officer

UP NEXT

More Active Duty Troops Will Head to US-Mexico Border, Bringing the Total to 3,600

UP NEXT

Police Search for Missing Fresno Man Last Seen in Bay Area

UP NEXT

Martin, Pardoned for Jan. 6, Sent to Lompoc Prison on Gun Charge Conviction

UP NEXT

Spring Training Preview: Dodgers Are Favored to Be MLB’s First Repeat Champion

UP NEXT

With Immigrant Backgrounds, Vang, Leon Barraza Seek Fresno Council Seat

UP NEXT

Justice Department Won’t Release Names of FBI Agents Who Worked on Jan. 6 Riot Cases

UP NEXT

Aliens, Sloths and Silliness: Super Bowl Ads Offer Laughs, Celebs and Surprises to Win Over Viewers

Visalia Woman Sentenced to 5 Years for High-Speed Chase That Injured Officer

1 hour ago

More Active Duty Troops Will Head to US-Mexico Border, Bringing the Total to 3,600

2 hours ago

Police Search for Missing Fresno Man Last Seen in Bay Area

2 hours ago

Martin, Pardoned for Jan. 6, Sent to Lompoc Prison on Gun Charge Conviction

2 hours ago

Spring Training Preview: Dodgers Are Favored to Be MLB’s First Repeat Champion

2 hours ago

With Immigrant Backgrounds, Vang, Leon Barraza Seek Fresno Council Seat

3 hours ago

Justice Department Won’t Release Names of FBI Agents Who Worked on Jan. 6 Riot Cases

3 hours ago

Aliens, Sloths and Silliness: Super Bowl Ads Offer Laughs, Celebs and Surprises to Win Over Viewers

3 hours ago

Mother Pleads for Britain’s Help in Freeing Son From Egyptian Prison

4 hours ago

Clean Energy Interests Shift Focus to Money and Jobs

4 hours ago

Alaska Legislature Asks Trump to Retain Denali’s Name

JUNEAU, Alaska  — The Alaska Legislature passed a resolution Friday urging President Donald Trump to reverse course and retain the name of N...

6 minutes ago

People stand at the Eielson Visitor Center with a view of North America's tallest peak, Denali, in the background, Sept. 2, 2015, in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. (AP File)
6 minutes ago

Alaska Legislature Asks Trump to Retain Denali’s Name

A driver on probation was arrested for DUI, drug possession, and firearm charges following a pursuit that started on State Route 198 and ended in Visalia. (CHP)
35 minutes ago

Driver Facing DUI, Drug, and Gun Charges After Pursuit in Visalia

A flu vaccine is displayed at a pharmacy in New York, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP File)
56 minutes ago

Flu Season in the US Is the Most Intense It’s Been in at Least 15 Years

The damage to the Tulare police officer's vehicle during the incident. (Tulare County DA)
1 hour ago

Visalia Woman Sentenced to 5 Years for High-Speed Chase That Injured Officer

President Donald Trump listens during a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
2 hours ago

More Active Duty Troops Will Head to US-Mexico Border, Bringing the Total to 3,600

Authorities are searching for Hussein Ali, 65, of Fresno, last seen in Millbrae on Jan. 17, driving a black Kia Sorento. (Fresno PD)
2 hours ago

Police Search for Missing Fresno Man Last Seen in Bay Area

2 hours ago

Martin, Pardoned for Jan. 6, Sent to Lompoc Prison on Gun Charge Conviction

New Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki poses during a a baseball news conference at Dodger Stadium Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025 in Los Angeles. (AP File)
2 hours ago

Spring Training Preview: Dodgers Are Favored to Be MLB’s First Repeat Champion

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend