Nithya Raman defeats Karen Bass in Los Angeles mayoral race

Nov 5, 2026

Progressive Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman unseated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November 2026 election, taking 52.1% of the vote in the first LA mayoral incumbent defeat since 2005. Raman's victory expands a wave of democratic socialist mayors taking leadership in major American cities, including New York and Washington, D.C. Capitalizing on public dissatisfaction over city services, affordable housing, and Bass' handling of the deadly 2025 Palisades fire, Raman assumes office on December 14, 2026, pledging to reform housing and halve street homelessness before the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Election results and mayoral transition

▪Nithya Raman will assume office as Los Angeles mayor on December 14, 2026 for a four-year term
▪Nithya Raman led Karen Bass 52.1% to 47.9% in unofficial results, marking the first time an incumbent Los Angeles mayor lost reelection since 2005
▪Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November 2026 Los Angeles mayoral election

Raman's post-election victory statements

▪Nithya Raman stated on November 3, 2026 that the election outcome proved Los Angeles voters rejected a decades-old status quo engineered to resist change
▪Nithya Raman's November 5, 2026 video statement thanked grassroots organizers, pledged to earn Angelenos' trust, and paid tribute to Karen Bass's decades of public service as Los Angeles' first woman mayor

Bass's concession and post-election remarks

▪Karen Bass reflected on her tenure as LA's first Black woman mayor, citing progress on housing, public safety, and protecting immigrants from federal troop deployments
▪Karen Bass announced that her 2026 reelection campaign would be her final campaign for public office after two decades in government
▪Karen Bass conceded the election by calling Nithya Raman

Pre-election polling in the mayoral race

▪A September 2026 UC Berkeley IGS and Los Angeles Times poll showed Nithya Raman leading Karen Bass 66% to 4% among likely voters under age 30
▪A UC Berkeley IGS and Los Angeles Times poll released shortly before the election showed Karen Bass and Nithya Raman tied at 40% among likely voters

Raman's path to the general election

▪Nithya Raman advanced to the general election runoff against Karen Bass after overtaking Spencer Pratt for second place in June 2026
▪Nithya Raman launched a last-minute mayoral bid in February 2026 after previously endorsing Karen Bass for reelection

Raman's campaign platform

▪Nithya Raman pledged to cut street homelessness in half before Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics
▪Nithya Raman characterized her platform as sewer socialism and pothole politics focused on basic service delivery and housing construction at all income levels

Criticisms and challenges facing Bass

▪Karen Bass faced public criticism for being in Ghana attending a presidential inauguration during the January 2025 Pacific Palisades wildfire, which killed 12 people
▪Karen Bass faced low voter approval ratings amid citywide frustration over housing affordability and homelessness

Endorsements for Karen Bass

▪Actors Jane Fonda and Samuel L. Jackson endorsed Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral election
▪Karen Bass was endorsed by Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, billionaire Rick Caruso, and much of the City Council

DSA disputes over Nithya Raman

▪The Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles chapter endorsed Nithya Raman, but national DSA leaders voted 14-13 against rescinding support following disputes over her stance on Israel
▪The Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles chapter previously censured Nithya Raman for accepting an endorsement from Democrats for Israel-Los Angeles

Democratic socialist mayoral victories

▪Democratic socialists have won the mayor's offices in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Seattle since last year
▪Nithya Raman's victory makes Los Angeles the latest major U.S. city led by a democratic socialist, joining Zohran Mamdani in New York and Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C.