The Los Angeles County wildfires that took place one year ago sparked widespread public debate about who was responsible for the crisis. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom were at the forefront of these accusations. Various claims, both true and false, circulated about how these two political figures handled the disaster, impacting their public approval.
When the fires began on Jan. 7, 2025, Newsom was already in Southern California for an event with then-President Joe Biden. In the weeks following the fires, Newsom and his team made regular visits to Los Angeles to marshal state assets, issue emergency orders and sign fire-related legislation. Subsequently, Newsom signed 19 executive orders related to the fires, including allowing students to attend schools outside of their school districts, suspending permitting requirements for homeowners attempting to rebuild, extending tax filing deadlines and creating tenant protections for survivors. Chloe ’27, a student who was impacted by the Palisades fire and an UltraViolet staffer, does not believe that the online backlash against Newsom is reasonable.
“I think [Gov. Newsom’s lack of preparedness] is an inevitable affect of such a traumatic and unexpected event,” Chloe said. “People say that they could have predicted it, but I don’t think anyone could have predicted the scale of the fire that would take out the Palisades.”
Despite his efforts to aid those impacted by the fires, the governor still faced backlash. In a poll taken by Emerson College in early January 2025, 42% of registered voters disapproved of Newsom’s handling of wildfire response, with 30% approving and 28% neutral. While Newsom faced significant criticism, Bass was an even more popular target.
When the fires broke out, Bass was visiting Africa to attend the inauguration of John Dramani Mahama as the president of Ghana, despite official warnings of wildfire risk in the Los Angeles Area due to the Santa Ana winds. The Mayor flew back to LA soon after news of the fires came out, but the damage to her political reputation was already done.
Additionally, former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley publicly criticized Bass for her cuts to the fire department budget, saying that if the department had more money, they would have been in a better position to fight the fires and prevent the damage caused to the city.
A survey by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs showed that Bass’s unfavorability rating increased by 17% after the fires. Similarly, in a poll conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, more than 40% of respondents said that the mayor did a “poor” or “very poor” job responding to the fires. Chloe, however, feels that the focus placed on Newsom and Bass after the fires should instead have been on supporting victims of the natural disaster.
“Immediately after the fires, people were like, ‘We need to focus on what Karen Bass did wrong or what Gavin Newsom did wrong,’ but the fires were still going on, and many houses were still at risk,” Chloe said. “Why not, instead of complaining on social media, help the people who were victim to this fire.”
Both Newsom and Bass have faced significant criticism for their handling of the disaster, which will play a role in their future political endeavors. Nevertheless, Bass plans to run for a second term as the mayor of Los Angeles in the 2026 mayoral election, and Newsom has announced his interest in running for the Democratic nominee in the 2028 presidential election. As both leaders move forward with their respective campaigns, their responses to the January wildfires will be a key factor in voters’ decisions.
