Former Los Angeles school principal plans to announce his bid for mayor on Monday

Former Los Angeles School Supt. Austin Beutner plans to challenge Mayor Karen Bass in the 2026 election, arguing the city failed to properly respond to crime, rising housing costs and the devastating Palisades fires.

Beutner, a philanthropist and former investment banker who lives in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood, will be the first real challenger to Bass, who is running for his second and final term.

Beutner said in an interview Saturday that city officials at all levels showed “failures in leadership” in the fires, which destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people.

The fire severely damaged Beutner’s house, forcing him and his family to rent elsewhere in the neighborhood, and completely destroyed his mother-in-law’s home.

“When a fire hydrant breaks, a reservoir breaks, it doesn’t work, it breaks [fire] When you can’t get trucks out in advance, when you don’t preposition at the appropriate level, when you don’t have the option to have firefighters on Monday come out on Tuesday to help fight the fire — to me, that’s a failure of leadership,” Beutner said.

“Ultimately,” he added, “the responsibility lies with the mayor.”

Representatives for Bass’s campaign declined to comment.

Beutner’s attack came days after federal prosecutors filed charges in connection with the Palisades fire, accusing a 29-year-old man of intentionally starting a blaze on New Year’s Day and later reigniting the deadly blaze.

The fire department released its long-awaited after-action report Wednesday as the federal investigation continues. The 70-page report found firefighters were hampered by poor communication, inexperienced leadership, a lack of resources and an ineffective process for recalling them back to work. Bass announced some changes based on the report.

Beutner, a former adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, could pose a serious political threat to Bass. He comes into the campaign with a wide range of experience – finance, philanthropy, local government, even the beleaguered journalism industry.

While seven others have filed papers to run for her seat, none has the fundraising muscle or name recognition to mount a major campaign. Real estate developer Rick Caruso, whom Bass defeated in 2022, has publicly considered running again but has not announced a decision.

Bass defeated Caruso by a wide margin in 2022, even though the mall mogul outspent her. Caruso has been an outspoken critic of her tenure as mayor, particularly her response to the Palisades fires.

Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said he believes Beutner will face a difficult situation trying to replace Bass, despite criticism of his handling of the Palisades fire. However, his inclusion could inspire other high-profile figures to launch their own mayoral campaigns and break down the “invincible wall” Bass is trying to erect.

“If Beutner steps in and starts to gain some traction, it will be easier for Caruso to step in,” Guerra said. “Because all you have to do is come in second in the primary [election]and see what generally happens. “

Earlier on Saturday, The Times reported that an image of a banner reading “Austin for Mayor of Los Angeles” appeared on Beutner’s long-term

Beutner is now scheduled to make the announcement on Monday, which comes in a year of crisis for the mayor and his city. She was overseas on a diplomatic mission to Ghana in January when a violent fire broke out in the Palisades.

Upon her return, she faced harsh criticism of the city’s preparations for strong winds, the fire department’s actions and overall emergency response.

In the coming months, the city faces a $1 billion budget shortfall due in part to Bass-approved pay increases for city workers. In an effort to close the gap, the City Council eliminated about 1,600 open positions, slowed LAPD hiring and rejected Bass’s proposal to add dozens of firefighters.

By June, Bass faced a different emergency: Waves of masked and armed federal agents arrested immigrants at car washes, Home Depots and elsewhere, sparking violent street protests.

Bass’s standing with voters was severely damaged after the Palisades fire, with a March poll showing that less than 20% of Los Angeles residents rated her response to the fires highly favorably.

But after President Trump put the city in his crosshairs, the mayor got back on his feet with a swift and pointed response. She mobilized allies against an immigration crackdown and condemned the president’s deployment of National Guard troops, arguing the soldiers were “being used as props.”

Beutner, who like Bass is a Democrat, said he voted for Bass four years ago and now regrets his choice.

He described Los Angeles as a “drifting” city with unresolved property crimes, rising garbage bills and unaffordable housing for many.

Beutner said he supports Senate Bill 79, which “conceptually” would force the city to build taller, denser buildings near train stations.

“I just wish the leadership in Los Angeles would get ahead of this so we could have a greater say in some of the rules,” he said. “But conceptually, yes, we have to build more housing.”

Bass urged Gov. Gavin Newsom not to sign the bill into law, and he signed it on Friday.

Beutner is co-founder and former president of Evercore Partners, a financial services firm that advises clients on mergers, acquisitions and other transactions. He retired from that company, now simply Evercore Inc., in 2008 after being seriously injured in a bicycle accident.

In 2010, he became Villaraigosa’s employment czar, earning the lofty title of first vice mayor and being given broad latitude to strike business deals on Villaraigosa’s behalf as the city struggled to emerge from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

More than a year after taking office, Beutner filed paperwork to begin considering a run for mayor. He won support from former Mayor Richard Riordan and many business people but killed the plan in 2012.

In 2014, Beutner became publisher of the Los Angeles Times, focusing on digital experimentation and building deeper connections with readers. He worked in that position for about a year before Times parent company Tribune Publishing fired him.

Three years later, Beutner was hired to head Los Angeles United Hospital, which serves schoolchildren in Los Angeles and more than two dozen other cities and unincorporated areas. He soon found himself at odds with the teachers union, which went on strike for six days.

The union agreed on a two-year pay increase totaling 6%. Beutner signed a parcel tax to generate additional education funding, but voters rejected the proposal.

After leaving the district in 2022, Beutner led the successful campaign for Proposition 28, which would have required a portion of California’s general fund to be used for visual and performing arts instruction.

Earlier this year, Beutner and several others sued Los Angeles Unified, alleging that the district violated Proposition 28 by misusing state arts funds and failing to provide students with the arts instruction required by law.

He is also passionate about philanthropy and founded the nonprofit Vision to Learn, which provides vision screenings, eye exams and glasses to children in low-income communities.