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# Karen Bass walks through fire. And gets burned.
- URL: https://www.losangelesrules.com/karen-bass-walks-through-fire-and-gets-burned/
- Published: 2026-04-27T05:12:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-10T05:04:24.000Z
- Description: Los Angeles mayors have to be jugglers and gamblers. Mayor Bass' bets seemed smarter at the time than they do now.
- Author: Robert Greene
- Tags: Palisades - Eaton fires, Jurisdictions, Cities, Los Angeles City Council

*This story was originally published in* [*L.A. Reported*](https://lareported.org/?s=robert+greene&post%5Ftype%5B%5D=any&search%5Flimit%5Fto%5Fpost%5Ftitles=0&add%5Fwoo%5Fproduct%5Fskus=0&fs=1&ref=losangelesrules.com)

In August 2021, Karen Bass was in Mozambique.

It was her job. As head of the House panel on Africa policy, the congresswoman was investigating violence in the Southeast African nation in order to inform Congress and President Biden on the situation.

Half a world away, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas was speaking to the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum about the moral urgency of the city’s homelessness crisis. He then made a surprise announcement: He would remain on the council to focus on the problem. He [would not run for mayor](https://lamag.com/city-hall/mark-ridley-thomas-mayor-los-angeles/?ref=losangelesrules.com).

Word quickly reached Bass in Africa. “And I was like, ‘Oh, crap! Well, I guess it’s clear what I need to step up and do,” she told the same forum in May 2023.

*Continue reading in* [*LA Reported*](https://lareported.substack.com/p/karen-bass-first-term-analysis).