Los Angeles, which is preparing for the 2028 Olympics while grappling with 45,194 homeless residents, a shrinking police force and soaring housing costs, will have Nithya Raman as its next mayor after Karen Bass conceded the race.
The result followed a contest that divided voters by age, according to exit polls conducted by political consultant Michael Trujillo on 22 October and 2 November. The polls put Bass ahead 56% to 44%, with Bass strongest among voters over 50 and Raman drawing her greatest support from younger voters.
Raman, 45, gathered with supporters at the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park on Tuesday night as they waited for results. She is a two-term District 4 councilmember, is married to the 30 Rock producer and writer Vali Chandrasekaran, and has the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Bass, 73, addressed supporters at the Loews Hollywood Hotel around 9:30pm. The incumbent, Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor, struck a confident tone and led the crowd in chants of “Four more years!”
Early returns gave Bass a narrow advantage. At 10pm, fewer than 10,000 votes separated the candidates, with Bass on 50.86% and Raman on 49.14% of roughly 575,811 votes counted.
That lead disappeared as mail ballots were counted overnight. By 3am on Wednesday, Raman had moved ahead with 377,458 votes to Bass’s 360,864, with 63% of the vote counted.
By Thursday morning, with 72% of the expected vote counted, Raman had 429,450 votes to Bass’s 394,796, a margin of 52.1% to 47.9%.
Bass then called Raman to concede. “I have called Councilmember Nithya Raman to congratulate her on her victory, and I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition,” Bass said.
Political veterans had warned that the contest could still take days or weeks to complete, with final results not scheduled for certification until 27 November.
Raman launched her mayoral campaign in February. She first joined the City Council in 2020, when she unseated the incumbent councilman David Ryu with backing from Democratic Socialists of America, and won re-election in 2024.
She has been connected to the Democratic Socialists of America in the past and ran on affordable housing, homelessness and better city services. Raman pledged to cut the number of people living on the streets by at least 50% before the 2028 Olympics.
Bass centred her campaign on rebuilding the LAPD to 9,500 officers by the Olympics and highlighted her Inside Safe programme. She had also faced criticism over her handling of the 2025 Palisades fire.
A poll by John McLaughlin’s firm put Raman ahead of Bass by 46.7% to 38.8% and found that 71.7% of voters disapproved of Bass’s performance. It also found that 56% of Raman’s supporters were under 40.
Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, said Raman’s showing did not surprise him because of enthusiasm among young voters. He said 250,000 new voters were expected in November and were more supportive of Raman.
Trujillo described the race as “like two sumo wrestlers fighting for market share”. Dan Schnur, a political commentator, said: “The two candidates seem to have been running for mayor of two entirely different cities of Los Angeles”.
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