As L.A. Emerges From Wildfires, Can Its Mayor Recover, Too?

It was 8:40 a.m., and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles was in stop-and-go traffic in the back of a black SUV.

She was already an hour and a half into her day one morning last week, which started with the dismantling of a quarter-mile-long homeless encampment. As local merchants embraced her, an amputee, a toddler and 43 other people were moved to shelter.

Now, she was headed to Pacific Palisades, to give a rebuilding update at the spot where the Jan. 7 wildfires leveled a library. Scrolling on her phone, she sorted through details of a nearly $1 billion projected city budget shortfall.

One crisis. And then another. And still another. All while a fourth, no less real or urgent, loomed in the background — her own political future as she runs for re-election next year.

As Los Angeles has emerged from the January wildfires, its mayor has worked overtime, straining to speed up recovery, while the Trump administration takes aim at liberal-run cities, global uncertainty rocks the economy and Los Angeles prepares to host the 2028 Olympics and part of next year’s World Cup.

But as challenges mount, Ms. Bass has struggled to gain traction. The fact that she was out of the country during the wildfires in January still haunts her.