Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman defeated Mayor Karen Bass in the city’s mayoral election, NBC News projected Thursday, Nov. 5. The Associated Press also reported that Raman, a democratic socialist, beat the incumbent. Bass was the first Los Angeles mayor to lose a re-election bid since Jim Hahn in 2005, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Related: DSA-Backed Candidates Won 106 Races on Nov. 3.
The result
Bass said in a statement that she had called Raman to congratulate her. “While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said, according to NBC Los Angeles.
“Los Angeles, I am deeply honored to be your next mayor,” Raman, 45, said in a video published Thursday. She also paid tribute to Bass’s decades of public service, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Raman won without the endorsement of any of her 14 council colleagues, and the police union opposed her, AP reported. The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed her, NBC Los Angeles reported.
Bass was hurt by the deadly Palisades Fire, which ignited while she was out of the country, AP reported.
What she says she will do
Raman said Thursday that homelessness, housing costs and public safety would be her priorities, AP reported. She takes office in mid-December, with the city preparing for the 2028 Olympics. She has not yet released a financially detailed plan, AP reported.
Raman, an urban planner educated at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded a homelessness outreach nonprofit in Los Angeles, according to AP.
Occidental College political scientist Caroline Heldman said Raman “positioned herself as the pothole politician,” AP reported. Mike Bonin, a former council member who leads the Pat Brown Institute, described her as focused on results.
Los Angeles mayors share power with the City Council, AP reported. Council Member Traci Park, who voted for Bass, said she looked forward to working with Raman in a city with “great challenges.”
Democratic socialists and city halls
Raman joins New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and Janeese Lewis George, elected mayor of Washington this week, AP reported. Raman has been outspoken about her willingness to break from the Democratic Socialists of America, AP reported. “My independence will always be paramount,” she said at a candidate forum in September.
Raman faced questions during the campaign about an interview with commentator Hasan Piker. Asked if she believed Israel had committed genocide, she answered, “I do, yes,” AP reported. After her win, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles called on her to “rebuild trust with Jewish Angelenos that was strained during the campaign.”
More coverage is in our politics section and government section.
Sources
- NBC Los Angeles: Nithya Raman projected to defeat Karen Bass in LA mayor election
- The Associated Press via The Philadelphia Inquirer: Nithya Raman to take charge in LA amid homeless crisis and political division
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