Nithya Raman Beats Karen Bass to Become Los Angeles Mayor in Historic Upset

Nithya Raman has defeated Karen Bass to become the next mayor of Los Angeles, in one of the biggest upsets in the city’s modern political history. The 45-year-old city council member, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, beat the sitting mayor in a race that few expected her to win when she entered it — just hours before the filing deadline.

Bass conceded on Thursday, 5 November, and telephoned Raman to congratulate her. She promised a smooth handover of power. Raman will take office next month as the leader of the second-largest city in the United States, home to about 3.8 million people.

The result is the first time a challenger has defeated a sitting Los Angeles mayor since 2005. It also means that America’s two biggest cities, New York and Los Angeles, will now both be led by democratic socialists.

The result in numbers

The latest figures released on Thursday by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office showed Raman with 460,772 votes, or 52.7 percent, against 413,519 votes, or 47.3 percent, for Bass. That gave Raman a lead of 47,253 votes.

The margin had grown steadily through the week. Bass held a narrow lead when the first early votes were counted on Tuesday night. But as ballots cast close to or on election day were added, Raman moved ahead — and her lead widened with every new batch of results.

Counting was still going on when Bass conceded. About 642,000 ballots remained to be counted across Los Angeles County on Thursday evening, although it was not clear how many of those were from voters inside the city of Los Angeles. Raman’s main support came from younger, progressive voters, who tend to vote later in the election cycle, so her lead was widely expected to grow further.

Decision Desk HQ, an election results service, had already called the race for Raman on Wednesday evening, when she led by about 26,000 votes.

Who is Nithya Raman?

Raman is an urban planner who was born in India. She has served on the Los Angeles City Council since 2020, representing District 4, which covers parts of central Los Angeles including Silver Lake, Los Feliz and the Hollywood Hills.

She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the left-wing political group, and her campaign won support from Our Revolution, the organisation founded by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, as well as the Sierra Club and the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

But Raman never attracted the same level of national attention as Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist elected mayor of New York last year. During her campaign she stressed that she was willing to break with her own party at times, and she worked to broaden her appeal — including a widely reported private meeting with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was not involved in the race.

Her entry into the mayor’s race was itself a surprise. She had first endorsed Bass, once her ally. Then she changed her mind, saying the city had reached a “breaking point”, and announced her own candidacy just hours before the deadline to file.

In a video recorded with the downtown Los Angeles skyline behind her, she paid tribute to Bass and thanked her volunteers. She promised to “build housing that people can afford, parks for our children to play in, a transit system that can get people where they need to go, a city that is safe for its working people and its families, and a city government that is actually capable of delivering on its promises.”

Why Karen Bass lost

Bass, 73, became the first woman elected mayor of Los Angeles when she won the job in 2022. Before that she had served in the California state legislature and in the United States Congress, and she was considered as a possible running mate for former President Joe Biden in 2020.

She entered the race with the backing of almost the whole Democratic establishment: California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and nearly every member of the City Council supported her. Billionaire property developer Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in the 2022 mayor’s race, said he was voting for her this time, although he stopped short of a formal endorsement.

But her first term was badly damaged by the deadly Palisades Fire. The fire broke out while Bass was out of the country, and it caught the city’s fire department unprepared. The devastation left many voters with the feeling that Bass should be held to account — and she never recovered.

Bass argued that she had made enough progress to deserve a second four-year term, and she described Raman’s views on policing and homelessness as “extreme”. She also warned that Raman was “not ready for primetime” and too inexperienced to run a city of 3.8 million people. Voters disagreed.

In her concession statement, Bass said she had called Raman to congratulate her. “While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” she said. “I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.”

What Raman has promised

Raman campaigned as the face of change in a year when voters were restless about long-running problems. A poll by the University of California, Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times, carried out from 19 to 25 October, found that about four in ten likely voters said reducing the number of homeless encampments should be the next mayor’s top priority. About three in ten put public safety or building more affordable housing first.

On homelessness, Raman called Bass’s efforts ineffective and promised a new approach. She wants to expand medical teams that work with people living in encampments and on the streets, building trust with them so they can eventually be brought indoors. She also wants to provide more housing to move people out of hotels rented by the city for those who are homeless. She said her plans could cut the number of people sleeping in tents and encampments by at least half by 2028, the year Los Angeles hosts the Olympic Games. The problem has long proved difficult to solve, despite billions of dollars spent in the region.

On policing, Raman has promised to remove the city’s police chief, whom she sees as too willing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

On everyday services, she promised to fix problems that have worsened for years: dirty streets full of potholes, broken pavements and street lights that do not work.

In her election night speech on Tuesday, as the votes were still being counted, she summed up the frustration of many voters with a city that she said seemed to be drifting. “For too long our broken and unjust status quo has convinced Angelenos that this is the best that we can do,” she said. “LA stopped being a place where we could build things, where we could open things, where we could film things, where we could create things.”

She promised to restore “that ambitious Los Angeles, that joyful Los Angeles, that creative Los Angeles, that entrepreneurial Los Angeles.”

A wider shift in American cities

Raman’s win is part of a wider pattern. When she takes office next month, she will join a growing group of democratic socialists running major American cities. In addition to Mamdani in New York, Janeese Lewis George was elected mayor of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, and Katie Wilson is the mayor of Seattle.

The results mean America’s two most populous cities — New York and Los Angeles — will now both be led by democratic socialists.

President Donald Trump was asked about the success of democratic socialists in the mayoral races. “We’ll see what happens,” he said in the Oval Office, but he warned that the impact of the changes they make might be irreversible. “There’ll be a point at which if people are unhappy, they’ll be changed,” he said. “But unfortunately, usually that happens so late that you’ll never be able to bring back a city or a country or a state. You know — when it goes too far.”

Raman’s victory also came on a historic election night for Democrats across the United States, who won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections, in a strong rebuke to Trump and his party.

What happens next

Bass has promised a smooth and seamless transition, and Raman takes office next month. But governing Los Angeles will test her quickly.

She will lead a city with a struggling entertainment industry, one of the world’s busiest ports, world-class universities and research institutions, and a major tourism sector. She will also have to prepare the city for the 2028 Olympic Games, which will bring the eyes of the world to Los Angeles — and which she has used as the deadline for her promise to halve the number of people sleeping in tents and encampments.

She will also need to build a wider circle of allies. She won with little backing from prominent local politicians, and expanding her network will be important as she starts governing. Her private meeting with Schwarzenegger was seen as an early sign of that effort.

For now, though, the story is the upset itself: a little-known council member who entered the race at the last minute, took on a sitting mayor backed by the most powerful Democrats in the country, and won.

Frequently asked questions

Who won the Los Angeles mayor’s race?

Nithya Raman, a 45-year-old Los Angeles City Council member backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, defeated the sitting mayor, Karen Bass. The latest figures showed Raman with 52.7 percent of the vote against 47.3 percent for Bass.

When did Karen Bass concede?

Bass conceded on Thursday, 5 November, just before midday. She telephoned Raman to congratulate her and promised a smooth transition.

When does Nithya Raman take office?

Raman takes office next month, in December 2026.

What is a democratic socialist?

A democratic socialist is someone who believes in using democratic elections and government to reduce inequality — for example through public housing, stronger public services and workers’ rights — while keeping democratic freedoms such as free elections and free speech. Raman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Why is the result historic?

Raman is the first challenger to defeat a sitting Los Angeles mayor since 2005, when Antonio Villaraigosa beat James K. Hahn. Her win also means that New York and Los Angeles, the two largest cities in the United States, are now both led by democratic socialists.

What did Raman promise voters?

She promised more affordable housing, better parks and public transport, safer streets, and a city government that delivers on its promises. She also promised a new approach to homelessness, to remove the police chief, and to fix basic services such as potholes, pavements and street lights.

Conclusion

Nithya Raman’s victory in Los Angeles is more than a local election result. It is the latest sign of a shift in American city politics, where voters frustrated by homelessness, high housing costs and broken basic services have turned to outsiders promising big change.

Bass, a veteran politician with the support of the Democratic establishment, lost to a candidate who entered the race at the last minute and campaigned on the argument that the city had reached a breaking point. Whether Raman can deliver on her promises — above all on homelessness before the 2028 Olympics — will now be the test that defines her time as mayor.

Sources

• Associated Press, “Democratic socialist Nithya Raman ousts embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass” — https://www.kcau9.com/news/ap-top-headlines/ap-los-angeles-city-council-member-nithya-raman-ousts-embattled-mayor-karen-bass/
• MyNewsLA, “Raman Wins LA Mayor’s Race; Bass Concedes, Promises Smooth Transition” — https://mynewsla.com/government/2026/11/05/raman-wins-la-mayors-race-bass-concedes-promises-smooth-transition-7/
• The Guardian (via World Right Now), “Democratic socialist Nithya Raman wins Los Angeles mayoral race over incumbent Karen Bass” — https://worldrightnowlive.com/story/democratic-socialist-nithya-raman-wins-los-angeles-mayoral-race-over-i
• Bloomberg Government, “Democratic Socialist Raman Wins LA Mayor Race, Bass Concedes” — https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/dsas-raman-beats-bass-in-los-angeles-mayor-race-ddhq-projects

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.