Raman takes LA mayor's office with 52% of the vote, ousting Bass

Nithya Raman won the Los Angeles mayoral race on Thursday, securing 52 percent of the vote according to The Associated Press. The 45-year-old council member becomes the first South Asian to lead the second-largest city in the United States. Her victory ends the tenure of incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, who lost her re-election bid.

Raman’s win stands out because she overcame the opposition of prominent Democrats. California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi all backed Bass. Despite this high-level support for the incumbent, Raman prevailed in a race that saw strong participation from progressive voters.

The campaign operated within a wider wave of left-wing electoral success. The Democratic Socialists of America, which supported Raman, reported that its members or affiliates won at least 105 of the 300 candidacies or referendums they backed in the midterms. Other DSA-linked victories included first terms in Congress for Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, Melat Kiros, and Chris Rabb. Raman’s win follows the 2025 mayoral victory of Zohran Mamdani in New York City.

Raman’s path to the mayor’s office began with a late entry into the race. Born in India and trained as an urban planner, she initially endorsed Bass but dropped out of the mayor’s camp in February. She filed her candidacy just hours before the deadline. In her victory speech, she described the current city government as a broken and unjust status quo that had convinced residents to accept less than they deserved.

The incoming mayor outlined specific policy priorities for her administration. She pledged to expand affordable housing and improve neglected city services. On homelessness, she promised to deploy more medical teams to assist the unhoused population. She also called for replacing the city’s police chief, citing concerns about the department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Bass becomes the first Los Angeles mayor in over 20 years to lose a re-election attempt. Her four years in office were defined by criticism over the homelessness crisis and the response to the Palisades Fire. That deadly fire devastated communities across the Los Angeles area while Bass was overseas. She now faces the transition in a city of more than 3.8 million people, which also prepares to host the 2028 Olympic Games in July.

In a statement issued Thursday, Bass congratulated her successor and expressed commitment to a smooth handover. She noted that residents elected her four years ago as the first Black woman mayor in the city’s history. "Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us," Bass wrote, acknowledging the responsibility of serving the city that raised her.