Nithya Raman defeats incumbent Karen Bass to become Los Angeles' next mayor

Nithya Raman has been elected mayor of Los Angeles, eking out a narrow win over incumbent Karen Bass in a major shake-up in local politics that reflects growing dissatisfaction with the direction of the United States' second-largest city.

Bass called Raman to concede the race on Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported, with returns showing Raman leading with just over 52% of the votes to Bass's 48%.

Raman, a progressive urban planner, has served on Los Angeles' city council since 2020. She caused a stir when she entered the race earlier this year hours before the filing deadline — and shortly after endorsing Bass for re-election — and her campaign was once viewed as a long shot.

But she shot up in the polls over the summer. Backed by the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, she frequently drew comparisons to New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Her victory means the two largest cities in the US, as well as the nation's capital, Washington DC, have now all elected democratic socialist mayors.

Raman broke into politics in 2020 by unseating an establishment Democrat on LA's powerful city council — the first time in 17 years that a sitting council member had been ousted. One LA political analyst called that win a "political earthquake."

In that 2020 campaign, Raman was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and was the first DSA-endorsed candidate elected to office in Los Angeles. She credited the win to grassroots organising, saying her campaign knocked on 80,000 doors and had 2,000 volunteers in total by the general election.

Raman's key issues are housing policy, homelessness and tenants' rights. Her mayoral platform calls for building more housing at all income levels, from deed-restricted affordable housing to market-rate housing to social housing to homeless shelters. Her goal is to triple annual housing construction in the city, an approach that earned her an endorsement from the advocacy group Yimby Action.

Before she ran for office, Raman was in 2017 one of five co-founders of the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a still-active volunteer organisation in north-east LA that now claims 800 volunteers and does outreach and advocacy with unhoused neighbours.

Raman pitched herself to voters as the candidate who can meet this moment with honesty and urgency, while lowering rents, improving city streets, reducing homelessness and keeping Angelenos safe.

The election came as Los Angeles grappled with frustration over homelessness, rising costs and housing affordability, the impact of the Trump administration's deportation campaign on the region, a struggling Hollywood, and a huge city budget shortfall. Bass had never before lost an election, but low approval ratings and frustration about the state of the city made another term a difficult road.

Raman struggled in the primary, when key portions of the city's liberal base and large unions had already aligned with Bass and she was overshadowed by Spencer Pratt's showy campaign. Pratt, a former reality TV star and registered Republican who ran after losing his home in the Palisades fire, was narrowly beaten by Raman in the primary as she advanced to the runoff against Bass.

Her support from DSA-LA was also complicated. The local chapter did not endorse her during the primary; after she advanced to the runoff against Bass, it endorsed her "enthusiastically." Shortly before the election, the organisation's national leaders considered rescinding the chapter's support over her position on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, but a vote on the matter ultimately failed. According to the Guardian's reporting, a national political committee voted 14-13 in early November against rescinding the local endorsement.

Supporters celebrated at an event for Raman outside the Greek Theatre on Tuesday night. Max Rico, a high school teacher in South Central Los Angeles who had previously supported Bass, said he was hopeful Raman would pull ahead as ballots from young voters were tallied, and that he was most excited about her positions on affordable housing, having frequently seen students leave mid-year as their families relocated to lower-cost areas. "Hopefully we can keep more families here," he said.