DSA-backed Raman will lead the US”s second-largest city, promising action on homelessness and affordable housing.
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 news agency called the race for Raman on Thursday, with her holding 52 percent of the vote.
Raman, 45, overtook Bass despite endorsements for the incumbent from prominent Democrats such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Raman’s 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 by 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.
Several of those wins came in congressional races, with figures such as 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 and Mamdani are of Indian origin – and now lead the country’s two biggest cities.
But while Mamdani spent his early years in Uganda, Raman was born in India, in the southern state of Keralam.
She moved to the US with her family when she was six years old, but later returned to India, where she worked as an urban planner in the city of Chennai.
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In 2013, she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as an administrative officer in the city government before launching a nonprofit to tackle homelessness.
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 told 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.
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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 challenge of hosting the 2028 Olympic Games, which open in July of that year.
With the result, Bass has become the first Los Angeles mayor in more than 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 said 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.
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