The Hollywood mogul and Democratic mega-donor made elections in Los Angeles his biggest priorities in 2022.
The money had an unmistakable impact. While many donors waited until the fall runoff, Katzenberg identified Luna as the strongest challenger to Villanueva, and put $500,000 behind him in the primary. “A lot of people were outraged by the previous sheriff,” Luna strategist Jeff Millman said. “Katzenberg actually did something about it.”
United Talent Agency Vice Chair Jay Sures, an avid supporter of Caruso and close friend of Katzenberg, said he and Katzenberg had numerous conversations along the way — many disagreements about the candidates and whose policies would be better. “This was exactly the kind of issue and the kind of moment you would expect him to get involved in,” said Bob Shrum, the veteran Democratic strategist who first met Katzenberg when they worked for former New York City Mayor John Lindsay.. In other conversations, Katzenberg talked about a community program he and his wife were building out in partnership with UCLA, which provides medical care and this year is expected to reach 35,000 people living on the streets.
While he favored Bass, he came to view Caruso — who saturated the race with more than $100 million in spending — as her opposite: a successful businessman with strong attributes — just none that suited him to be mayor. He didn’t think Caruso’s plans to house tens of thousands of people in short order and hire scores more police officers were feasible.