Nithya Raman Unseats Karen Bass in Los Angeles Mayoral Runoff
The 45-year-old City Council member defeated the former congresswoman, capping a campaign that focused on housing and homelessness.
By Alina Campbell ·
Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, according to NBC News projections. The victory marks a sharp shift in leadership for the nation's second-largest city and places Raman at the head of a growing group of major American cities led by Democratic socialists.
Raman, 45, is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Her win joins those of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Washington, D.C., Mayor Janeese Lewis George, who secured her position earlier this week. Raman campaigned against what she called the broken status quo, focusing on the city's homelessness crisis and rising housing costs.
Bass, a former six-term U.S. House member, faced heavy criticism for her handling of the January 2025 Pacific Palisades wildfire. The fire was the most destructive in the city's history, killing 12 people and destroying thousands of homes. At the time of the blaze, Bass was in Ghana attending a presidential inauguration.
During the campaign, Raman accused Bass of managing the city's challenges poorly. She described City Hall as having a reluctance to implement the transformative policy changes the city required. Bass countered that Raman was not ready for primetime after six years on the City Council.
The two candidates also diverged on foreign policy. At a September forum hosted by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Raman agreed with left-wing influencer Hasan Piker that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians. Bass rejected that specific label, highlighting a generational split within the local Democratic Party.
Raman's path to the runoff began in the June 2 primary, where she and Bass finished in the top two spots. They advanced past Spencer Pratt, a former reality television star and populist insurgent who had challenged the establishment with social media videos. Raman had endorsed Bass earlier in the year before launching her own last-minute bid.
The incoming mayor will soon oversee the 2028 Summer Olympics. That event will test the city's infrastructure, public transportation, and security systems. Raman represents a district stretching from the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains. She was born in India, moved to the United States as a child, and attended Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
