Karen Bass said on Thursday that Jane Fonda is backing her mayoral bid, adding another Hollywood name to a campaign that has moved quickly to line up celebrity support as the Los Angeles race tightens. Bass said she was deeply honored by the endorsement and cast it as part of a fight over who will stand up for the city now.
“Jane Fonda has spent her life on the front lines — from civil rights to women’s rights to the fight for our climate — and I’m deeply honored to have her support,” Bass said. She added that at a time when Donald Trump is attacking the city, immigrant neighbors and the freedoms generations of women fought to win, Angelenos need leaders willing to stand up and speak out. Digital later confirmed the statement from the mayor’s office.
The endorsement landed two days after Bass announced support from Samuel L. Jackson, who appeared in a video on Tuesday saying she is the candidate who understands government and the needs of the people. Jackson said Bass would go into the streets and gather people together rather than divide them, a line that fit the campaign’s message as she tries to hold her position against fellow mayoral candidate and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt.
Fonda’s support carries extra weight because it is not new to Bass. She endorsed Bass and donated to her original mayoral campaign in 2022 against Rick Caruso. But Fonda also later backed Bass’s current primary opponent, Nithya Raman, in Raman’s 2024 campaign for city councilmember and attended Raman’s swearing-in ceremony, a split that makes Thursday’s announcement more complicated than a simple show of force.
That history matters because Bass is trying to turn celebrity backing into a broader political advantage at a moment when the numbers have narrowed. Polls earlier this month showed Pratt at 22% and Bass at 30%, leaving Bass ahead but not comfortably so. Hollywood endorsements can raise a campaign’s profile, but they do not erase the fact that Bass is facing a closer contest than she was before.
For Bass, the immediate question is not whether she can keep collecting famous names. It is whether those names can move enough voters to matter before the race hardens around Pratt’s rise and Bass’s lead shrinks any further.
