Nithya Raman has defeated Karen Bass to become mayor of Los Angeles, ousting a sitting incumbent for the first time in more than two decades and extending a wave of democratic socialist victories in American cities.
Bass conceded on Thursday, congratulating Raman in a written statement and promising a smooth transition. Raman, a city council member and onetime ally of the mayor, is the first Los Angeles mayoral candidate to defeat an incumbent since 2005.
Raman, an India-born urban planner, first won a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 2020. She stunned the political establishment of the second-largest city in the United States when she challenged Bass, a former six-term member of Congress who became the first woman elected mayor of Los Angeles four years ago.
She is one of the latest in a new wave of fast-rising democratic socialists and progressives who have unseated centrist politicians in recent elections across the country. Raman has largely embraced comparisons to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was elected a year ago, while rejecting the idea that she is simply a West Coast replica. "I am different. I am myself," she told Vanity Fair.
Homelessness played a major role in the campaign. About 44,000 people were counted as homeless in the city in 2025, including about 27,000 living unsheltered on streets, in vehicles or in encampments, according to the latest annual tally from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Nearly 5,000 are concentrated in the downtown Skid Row district.
Bass had made tackling homelessness one of her top priorities on taking office, but drew criticism from affordable-housing advocates who considered her progress too slow. Her standing was further undermined by criticism of the city’s response to one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in its history, the January 2025 Palisades fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures. The simultaneous Eaton fire killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 homes, businesses and other structures.
In a video statement thanking voters and campaign volunteers, Raman vowed to "build housing that people can afford, parks for our children to play in, a transit system that can get people where they need to go, a city that is safe for its working people and its families." She also praised Bass’s public service career; Bass was a nurse and emergency room physician’s assistant before entering politics.
Note: this article is based on a single Reuters report. No final vote margin has yet been published.
Sources: Reuters, "Democratic socialist Raman elected Los Angeles mayor in upset over Bass" — https://www.reuters.com/world/democratic-socialist-raman-elected-los-angeles-mayor-upset-over-bass-2026-11-06/
