Los Angeles has a new mayor, and history has been made twice over. Kerala-born Nithya Raman has defeated incumbent Karen Bass to become the first South Asian mayor of the city, and the first Asian American to lead the second-largest city in the United States. The Associated Press called the race for Raman on Thursday, and Bass conceded the same day, telephoning her challenger to congratulate her and promising a smooth transition.
Raman won 51.67 per cent of the vote to Bass’s 48.33 per cent, polling 405,193 votes against the incumbent’s 379,069, according to figures from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder. Ballots are still being counted and certification is pending, but the margin was wide enough for major news organisations to project Raman as the winner. She will also be the first member of the Democratic Socialists of America to lead Los Angeles.
“The people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said in a statement after conceding. The defeat is a stunning upset for a mayor backed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Bass is the first Los Angeles mayor in nearly two decades to lose a re-election bid.
A late entry that rewrote the race
Raman’s victory is remarkable not just for who she is, but for how she got there. She had publicly endorsed Bass for re-election, then reversed course in February and filed her own candidacy just hours before the deadline, a move that shocked the city. On primary night in June she was running third, and she only reached the runoff after later mail ballots were counted.
On election night itself, Bass led in the first returns. Raman took the lead early on Wednesday as later mail ballots were counted, and she never gave it back. Speaking to supporters at the Greek Theatre, she said: “Hopelessness can be fatal for a city.”
The contest was lopsided on paper. Thirteen of Raman’s fourteen council colleagues endorsed Bass, and the Los Angeles Police Protective League spent more than five million dollars against her. But her coalition, from democratic socialists to housing developers and unions, proved broader than expected.
From Kerala to City Hall
Raman was born in Kerala in 1981 and moved to the United States with her family when she was six. After graduating from Harvard in 2003, she returned to India and worked with nonprofits advocating for slum residents in Delhi and Chennai. She then earned a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She moved to Los Angeles in 2013 with her husband, television writer Vali Chandrasekaran. In 2017 she co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a volunteer group working with people living on the streets. In 2020 she unseated Councilmember David Ryu, becoming the first South Asian elected to the Los Angeles City Council. She won re-election in 2024.
What decided the election
The campaign was fought largely on the record of the Bass administration. A Berkeley IGS and Los Angeles Times poll found that 65 per cent of likely voters viewed Bass unfavourably. Many voters turned against her after the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which began while she was travelling abroad. Raman campaigned on that response, on broken streets, on the uneven results of Bass’s Inside Safe homelessness programme and on housing costs.
What comes next: housing, homelessness and the Olympics
Raman takes charge of a city of more than 3.8 million people with a daunting in-tray. She has promised more affordable housing, faster apartment construction alongside stronger tenant protections, and a new approach to homelessness built around medical teams helping people living without homes. She has pledged to cut street homelessness in half before the 2028 Olympic Games, which open in Los Angeles in July that year. The Olympics will define her first term: the city must be ready to host the world’s biggest sporting event while tackling the housing and homelessness crisis that dominated the campaign.
A wider Indian-American moment
Raman’s win is part of a wider story from the November 3 midterm elections, in which several Indian Americans won office across the United States. With her victory, America’s two largest cities, New York and Los Angeles, are now led by mayors of Indian descent, after Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York. For the Malayali community in particular, it is a moment of pride: a girl born in Kerala who arrived in America at six is now the mayor of Los Angeles.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Nithya Raman?
A Kerala-born urban planner and Los Angeles City Council member, 45, who defeated incumbent Karen Bass in the mayoral election.
What is historic about her win?
She is the first South Asian and first Asian American mayor of Los Angeles, and the first Democratic Socialists of America member to lead the city.
What was the vote margin?
Raman won 51.67 per cent (405,193 votes) against Bass’s 48.33 per cent (379,069 votes), per Los Angeles County figures. Certification is pending.
When did Karen Bass concede?
On Thursday, November 5, after the Associated Press called the race for Raman. She called Raman to congratulate her and promised a smooth transition.
What has Raman promised as mayor?
More affordable housing, faster construction, stronger tenant protections, and a pledge to halve street homelessness before the 2028 Olympics.
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