Nithya Raman, a progressive Los Angeles City Council member, has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, putting her on track to become the first South Asian to lead the second largest city in the United States.
The Associated Press called the race for Raman on Thursday, with Raman holding 52 percent of the vote.
Raman, 45, overtook Bass despite the incumbent’s support from prominent Democrats like California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Her campaign was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), with her victory coming as part of a surge in visibility and electoral wins for the left-wing political movement.
A record number of candidates backed or affiliated with the DSA won federal offices in Tuesday’s midterm elections. On its website, the DSA has claimed credit for contributing to at least 300 candidacies or ballot referendums during the midterms, and it said it is on track to count 105 of those as victories.
Some of those wins include congressional races, with figures like Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, Melat Kiros and Chris Rabb winning their first terms as US representatives.
Raman’s victory in Los Angeles follows another high-profile democratic socialist winning a mayor’s race in New York City last year: Zohran Mamdani.
Raman was born in India and worked as an urban planner before running for office. Once an ally of Bass, she had initially endorsed her re-election campaign but reversed course, entering the mayoral race in February, just hours before the filing deadline.
In her victory speech, Raman promised to restore what she called an ambitious, creative and entrepreneurial Los Angeles.
“For too long our broken and unjust status quo has convinced Angelenos that this is the best that we can do,” she said to the crowd.
Raman also pledged to expand affordable housing, improve neglected city services and take a different approach to homelessness by deploying more medical teams to assist people who are unhoused.
In addition, she called for replacing the city’s police chief over concerns about cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Raman now faces the task of delivering on those promises in a city of more than 3.8 million people.
Los Angeles also faces the hurdle of hosting the 2028 Olympic Games, starting in July of that year.
With Thursday’s election results, Bass has become the first Los Angeles mayor in nearly two decades to lose a re-election bid.
Her defeat follows a difficult four years in office. Her administration faced mounting criticism over the city’s homelessness crisis and its response to the deadly Palisades Fire, which broke out while she was overseas and devastated communities across the Los Angeles area.
In a statement on Thursday, Bass congratulated Raman and added that she was committed to ensuring a smooth transition.
“Four years ago, you elected me as the first Black woman mayor in the history of Los Angeles. You gave me the honor of serving the city that raised me, and every single day since, I have carried that responsibility with me,” Bass wrote.
“Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.”
