Nithya Raman Defeats Karen Bass for Los Angeles Mayor
NBC and CBS project Councilmember Nithya Raman defeated Mayor Karen Bass; she led 52.1%–47.9% with about 76% of the expected vote counted.
Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, NBC News and CBS News projected Thursday, in a race that will hand the nation’s second-largest city a new mayor after one Bass term.
With about 76% of the expected vote counted Thursday morning, Raman led Bass 429,450 to 394,796, or 52.1% to 47.9%, according to figures from county elections officials reported by NBC Los Angeles. Raman’s margin widened from overnight returns Wednesday, NBC Los Angeles said.
Path from Council to City Hall
Raman, 45, 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 later studied at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NBC News reported. She won a City Council seat in 2020 and announced a late challenge to Bass in February after earlier endorsing the mayor’s reelection bid.
In the June primary, Bass took about 34% of the vote, Raman about 29%, and former reality television star Spencer Pratt about 25.5%, advancing Bass and Raman to the November runoff, NBC Los Angeles reported. Bass had never lost an election for public office before this contest, according to both networks.
Campaign flashpoints
Raman, who has the endorsement of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, cast Bass’s City Hall as resistant to change on housing costs and homelessness. Bass argued Raman was not ready to lead, NBC News and CBS News reported. Bass also faced lasting criticism over her response to the January 2025 Pacific Palisades wildfire, which destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people while she was abroad, NBC News said.
Raman is set to be sworn in in December. Her projected win means Los Angeles would join New York City and Washington, D.C., among major U.S. cities led by politicians backed by democratic socialists, after Zohran Mamdani and Janeese Lewis George won those mayor’s races this week, according to NBC News.
Developing: Ballot counting continues in Los Angeles County, and the result has not been certified.
Sources: NBC News, NBC Los Angeles, CBS News
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