Harris swears in Bass as first Black feminine mayor of Los Angeles

Vice President Harris on Sunday swore in former Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) as the primary Black feminine mayor of Los Angeles.

Bass thanked Harris for making the time to attend her inauguration, and bringing a number of members of Congress alongside on Air Power Two, including “know that your metropolis has your again.”

Bass, 69, defeated Democrat opponent Rick Caruso, a rich developer, in final month’s metropolis election, changing into the primary lady elected to guide the Metropolis of Angles. Bass is ready to switch outgoing metropolis mayor Eric Garcetti (D), who has been in workplace since 2013. 

Bass used her inauguration speech to induce town to hitch collectively for a “elementary shift” in its method to points like crime and housing, which have been central points through the marketing campaign.

“It additionally takes a elementary shift – away from ‘no, that’s not my downside’ and to ‘how can we work collectively, and get to sure?” Bass stated in her speech.

She reiterated that her first act as mayor can be declaring a state of emergency on homelessness, and stated she would search to construct new housing in each neighborhood.

“We can’t proceed to overcrowd neighborhoods which might be already overcrowded,” she stated. “This is my name to you, L.A. – to welcome housing in each neighborhood.”

She additionally pledged to extend cops in some communities and to create a Workplace of Neighborhood Security to confront crime within the metropolis.

“Let me be so daring as so as to add that we are able to stop crime and neighborhood violence by addressing the social, the well being, and the financial circumstances that compromise a secure atmosphere,” she stated.

Harris, alongside her husband, Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, was among the many high-profile political figures to attend the inauguration ceremony on the metropolis’s Microsoft Theater. 

The ceremony additionally included star-studded performances from musicians Stevie Marvel, Gospel duo Mary & Mary, and Chloe Bailey, one-half of R&B sister duo Chole & Halle, and a poem recited by American poet Amanda Gorman.