Nithya Raman Defeats Karen Bass for Los Angeles Mayor, Bass Concedes

Nithya Raman will be the next mayor of Los Angeles. The 45-year-old city councilwoman and member of the Democratic Socialists of America ousted incumbent Karen Bass, 73, in the November general election.

The Associated Press called the race Thursday, Nov. 5, with Raman at just over 52% to Bass's 48%. NBC News and CBS News also projected Raman the winner. Bass had never lost an election.

Bass conceded Thursday morning. "While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken," she said, adding that she had called Raman and committed to "a smooth and seamless transition."

How a long shot got here

Raman endorsed Bass for reelection, then entered the race in February, hours before the filing deadline. She called her own campaign a long shot.

In the June 2 primary, Bass took 34.3%, Raman 29% and reality TV star Spencer Pratt 25.5%. Raman and Bass advanced to the runoff.

Bass was dragged down by the January 2025 Pacific Palisades fire, the most destructive in city history. It destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people. Bass was in Ghana for a presidential inauguration when it started.

A recent Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times poll put Bass's unfavorable rating at 65% against 32% favorable. Another survey from the same pollsters shortly before the election had Bass and Raman tied at 40% among likely voters.

Raman's numbers weren't great either. The same Berkeley IGS/Times polling had her at 42% favorable and 49% unfavorable. The New York Times quoted political experts saying that if she won, it would be "because she is not Ms. Bass."

The agenda

Raman campaigned on homelessness, housing costs, street conditions and public safety. She accused City Hall of "a reluctance to move forward with the transformative policy change that this city needs right now." Bass said Raman was "not ready for primetime" after six years on the council.

In 2025 Raman introduced a motion capping annual rent increases on rent-stabilized apartments built before 1978. It passed 13-2.

The city faces a large budget shortfall, and the 2028 Summer Olympics will test its transit, infrastructure and security.

The two split sharply on Gaza. At a September forum co-hosted by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Raman said she agreed with left-wing influencer Hasan Piker that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians. Bass rejected that label.

Raman's relationship with her own movement is messy. The day before the election, the national DSA voted only 14 to 13 against revoking the local chapter's endorsement of her. The dispute was over her refusal to back the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. She has stressed her "independence" from the DSA.

The police question

The sharpest fight ahead is over the LAPD. Raman has pledged to replace Chief Jim McDonnell, saying he has not done enough to stop ICE from detaining illegal immigrants in the city. His term runs through 2030.

Raman has said there are "credible reports" that the LAPD shared information with ICE, including from fingerprint databases and Flock cameras. McDonnell flatly rejects that. He says California law bars the department from assisting federal immigration enforcement.

The New York Post reported that Raman called for defunding the police during her 2020 council campaign. It also reported that she appeared in a social media video suggesting McDonnell and the LAPD were "fascist liars." The Post did not describe the context in the material cited here.

Officers are alarmed. "It's going to be a nightmare and very, very bad for public safety," one senior LAPD officer told the Post. The department has about 8,500 officers for a city of 3.8 million, and officers describe it as "woefully understaffed." Another officer said: "If she cuts the budget we'll have nothing left."

Raman's side of that argument rests on the numbers. Crime in Los Angeles is down in every category, and officer-involved shootings have dropped 53% this year, according to the Post's reporting. Raman has argued that falling crime means the city does not need more cops.

McDonnell has taken a shot of his own. He told the Post he was on the streets during last year's anti-ICE unrest. "I don't know that people who are criticizing us were anywhere near there," he said, referring to a happy hour Raman attended while the protests unfolded.

The national picture

Los Angeles becomes the third major American city led by a democratic socialist. New York has Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and Janeese Lewis George won the Washington, D.C. mayoral race this week.

The Guardian noted that the result came on a night when Democrats won control of the House and Senate. The L.A. contest was different, though. Both finalists are Democrats and progressives, and the race was a fight between generations and wings of the party.

Raman promised in a video statement to "earn your trust" with voters who backed Bass or stayed home. She also thanked Bass for "decades of her life" in public service.

What comes next

Raman has not said who would replace McDonnell or how she would remove a chief with four years left on his term. The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the officers' union, is already on record warning against her. Whether she tries to force McDonnell out before the 2028 Olympics is the open question.

Bass has promised a smooth handoff. The transition will test how much of Raman's pitch for "transformative" change survives contact with a budget hole and an understaffed police department.