Former funding banker Austin Beutner, an advocate for arts training who spent three years on the helm of the Los Angeles Unified College District, seems to be laying the groundwork for a run in opposition to Mayor Karen Bass in subsequent yr’s election, based on his social media accounts.
At one level Saturday, Beutner’s longtime account on X featured the banner picture “AUSTIN for LA MAYOR,” together with the phrases: “This account is getting used for marketing campaign functions by Austin Beutner for LA Mayor 2026.”
Each the textual content and the banner picture, which resembled a marketing campaign brand, had been eliminated shortly earlier than 1 p.m. Saturday. Beutner didn’t instantly present remark after being contacted by The Instances.
New “AustinforLA” accounts additionally appeared on Instagram and Bluesky on Saturday, displaying the identical marketing campaign textual content and brand. These messages had been additionally rapidly eliminated and transformed to generic accounts for Beutner.
It’s nonetheless unclear when Beutner, 65, plans to launch a marketing campaign, or if he’ll achieve this. Rumors about his intentions have circulated broadly in political circles in latest weeks.
Beutner, who labored at one level as a high-level aide to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, would immediately turn into probably the most vital candidate to run in opposition to Bass, who’s in search of a second four-year time period in June.
Though seven different folks have filed paperwork to run for her seat, none has the fundraising muscle or title recognition to pose a menace. Rick Caruso, the actual property developer whom Bass defeated in 2022, has publicly flirted with one other run for town’s high workplace however has but to announce a choice.
A consultant for Bass’ marketing campaign didn’t instantly remark.
Beutner’s announcement is available in a yr of crises for the mayor and her metropolis. Bass was in another country in January, participating in a diplomatic mission to Ghana, when the ferocious Palisades hearth destroyed hundreds of houses and killed 12 folks.
When she returned, Bass confronted withering criticism over town’s preparation for the excessive winds, in addition to hearth division operations and the general emergency response.
Within the months that adopted, town was confronted with a $1-billion price range shortfall, triggered partly by pay raises for metropolis staff that had been authorised by Bass. To shut the hole, the Metropolis Council eradicated about 1,600 vacant positions, slowed down hiring on the Los Angeles Police Division and rejected Bass’ proposal for dozens of further firefighters.
By June, Bass confronted a distinct emergency: waves of masked and closely armed federal brokers apprehending immigrants at automotive washes, Residence Depots and elsewhere, sparking livid road protests.
Bass had been politically weakened within the wake of the Palisades hearth. However after President Trump put town in his crosshairs, the mayor regained her political footing, responding swiftly and sharply. She mobilized her allies in opposition to the immigration crackdown and railed in opposition to the president’s deployment of the Nationwide Guard, arguing that the troopers had been “used as props.”
Beutner would come to the race with a variety of job experiences — the dog-eat-dog world of finance, the struggling journalism trade and the messy world of native authorities. He is also immersed in philanthropy, having based the nonprofit Imaginative and prescient to Study, which gives imaginative and prescient screenings, eye exams and glasses to youngsters in low-income communities.
He’s a co-founder and former president of Evercore Companions, a monetary providers firm that advises its purchasers on mergers, acquisitions and different transactions. In 2008, he retired from that agency — now merely referred to as Evercore Inc. — after he was severely injured in a bicycling accident.
In 2010, he turned Villaraigosa’s jobs advisor, taking over the elevated title of first deputy mayor and receiving broad latitude to strike enterprise offers on Villaraigosa’s behalf, simply as town was struggling to emerge from its worst financial downturn because the Nice Despair.
Beutner labored carefully with Chinese language electrical automotive firm BYD to make L.A. its North American headquarters, whereas additionally overseeing selections on the Division of Water and Energy and different businesses.
Barely greater than a yr into his job, Beutner filed paperwork to start exploring a run for mayor. He secured the backing of former Mayor Richard Riordan and lots of within the enterprise neighborhood however pulled the plug in 2012.
In 2014, Beutner turned writer of the Los Angeles Instances, the place he targeted on digital experimentation and forging deeper ties with readers. He lasted roughly a yr in that job earlier than Tribune Publishing Co., the mum or dad firm of The Instances, ousted him.
Three years later, Beutner was employed because the superintendent of L.A. Unified, which serves schoolchildren in Los Angeles and greater than two dozen different cities and unincorporated areas. He rapidly discovered himself at odds with the lecturers’ union, which staged a six-day strike.
The union settled for a two-year package deal of raises totaling 6%. Beutner, for his half, signed off on a parcel tax to generate further training funding, however voters rejected the proposal.
Beutner’s largest affect might have been his management throughout COVID-19. The college district distributed thousands and thousands of meals to needy households after which, as campuses reopened, labored to improve air filtration methods inside faculties.
In 2022, after leaving the district, Beutner led the profitable marketing campaign for Proposition 28, which requires {that a} portion of California’s basic fund go towards visible and performing arts instruction.
Earlier this yr, Beutner and several other others sued L.A. Unified, accusing the district of violating Proposition 28 by misusing state arts funding and denying legally required arts instruction to college students.
