The 65-year-old investment banker and philanthropist, who ran the school district from 2018-21, will challenge Mayor Karen Bass in the June 2026 election.
'"I'll never accept the Trump administration's assault on our values and our neighbors. Targeting people solely based on the color of their skin is unacceptable and un-American," he says in the video.
In an interview with ABC7, Beutner described L.A. as "as city becoming less and less affordable, less safe, a more difficult place to live."
"I credit Mayor Bass, in a funny way, for maybe the inspiration to do this," he said, referring to his candidacy. "She recently said we need to turn the city around. I agree. If that were her platform when she ran four years ago, good. She's been in the job, and we can't be four years into a job saying we need to turn things around.
"So, I think it's time to start solving problems," Beutner said. "We're spending billions trying to solve these problems. We're not making progress."
Earlier Monday morning, a Bass campaign spokesman issued a statement amid reports of Buetner throwing his hat into the ring.
"Let's move past divisive attacks and talk about accomplishments. When Karen Bass ran for mayor, homelessness and public safety were the top concerns of Angelenos. And she has delivered in a big way," Bass campaign spokesman Doug Herman said. "Today, homelessness has decreased two consecutive years for the first time in Los Angeles. Thousands of people have been moved off our streets and into housing. Violent crime is down across the city. Homicides have decreased to their lowest levels in 60 years."
Beutner has questioned Bass' record on crime and development issues, but focused his most withering criticism on her response to January's devastating Palisades Fire, telling the Los Angeles Times that the city showed a "failure of leadership" as historically strong winds spread flames through the expensive coastal enclave, gutting thousands of homes and businesses, and killing 12 people.
The Palisades Fire damaged Beutner's house, and his mother-in-law's home was destroyed. An after-action report issued by the Los Angeles Fire Department last week said the department experienced poor communication, inexperienced leadership, a lack of resources and an ineffective process for recalling firefighters back to work during the crisis.
In light of the report, Bass has promised to make changes.
"When you have broken hydrants, a reservoir that's broken and is out of action, broken 9fire) trucks that you can't dispatch ahead of time, when you don't pre-deploy at the adequate level, when you don't choose to hold over the Monday firefighters to be there on Tuesday to help fight the fire -- to me, it's a failure of leadership," Beutner said.
"At the end of the day, the buck stops with the mayor," he said.
Beutner was publisher of The Times from 2014-15. He was also a deputy mayor of Los Angeles from 2010-13, during former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's second term.
City News Service contributed to this report.