Billionaire developer Rick Caruso said he is “seriously looking” at running for either California governor or mayor of Los Angeles next year.
“I’m looking at both paths; there are good opportunities in both paths,” he said in an interview to Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. “I have a team of people working on it and will make a decision soon.”
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Caruso, a Democrat, lost a race for Los Angeles mayor to Karen Bass in 2022 and has since emerged as one of her most vocal critics, particularly over her preparation and response to the area’s devastating wildfires this year. He said Wednesday that massive damage could have been “significantly mitigated” if authorities were better prepared.
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Caruso owns luxury shopping centers, hotels and apartments in the region. His Palisades Village mall, located near some of the worst-hit areas of the January blaze, was mostly spared because of private firefighters he hired.
Caruso also urged Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s termed out next year, to make peace with President Donald Trump in an effort to secure the federal funds L.A. will need to rebuild.
“We need federal funding and we’re getting none of that,” Caruso said. “I don’t think the bickering and name-calling that’s going on serves any purpose of advancing the negotiations or discussions in getting federal help in Los Angeles.”
Newsom has asked for nearly $34 billion in aid to L.A. but the funds have not moved through Congress amid increasing animosity between the California governor and the US president. Newsom and Trump have publicly clashed over a range of topics, from education to public safety, as well as if California’s wildfire aid should come with strings attached.
If Caruso decides to pursue running for governor, he would face several other Democratic challengers, including Katie Porter, a former congresswoman from Orange County; former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra; and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The race is considered to be wide open after former Vice President Kamala Harris announced in July that she wouldn’t pursue the job.