The 360: How liberal is Los Angeles

What kind of leaders are Angelenos looking for? We'll find out some answers after polls close on Tuesday. We'll learn about the electorate's priorities when it comes to public safety, income inequality, homelessness and immigration enforcement, and how this will all play out in a tight mayoral primary that includes incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a reality television star and a popular member of the City Council.

Jim Newton is editor-in-chief of Blueprint, a magazine dedicated to policy research on Los Angeles, California and beyond, and teaches communication studies and public policy at UCLA. He is well-versed in the politics of Los Angeles, California and the nation.

In a piece from the spring issue, he refers to Los Angeles as a "city of change."

"Once the bulwark of conservative politics under the protection of a Republican business leadership and a Republican newspaper, the city has moved steadily leftward in recent decades. The days when Richard Riordan, a moderate Republican, could win the support of the electorate are far behind today's Los Angeles."

"It was not long ago that support for increased LAPD spending was a unifying city objective. Conservatives favored the idea of stricter enforcement of the law, while liberals saw it as a way to pay for police reform and empowering its oversight. No more."

"There are many reasons for the leftward shift, and not all of them are specific to Los Angeles. The nation's economic inequality continues to expand, and the plight of those left out of economic growth grows increasingly dire and visible in big cities, where opulence and poverty live side by side."

Newton is a veteran author, teacher and journalist who spent 25 years as a reporter, editor, bureau chief, editorial page editor and columnist at the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of five critically acclaimed books of biography and history, including "Man of Tomorrow: The Relentless Life of Jerry Brown" and his most recent, "Here Beside the Rising Tide: Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead and an American Awakening."