Bass Out!

The progressives win. Mayor-elect Nithya Raman. The Los Angeles councilmember defeated embattled mayor Karen Bass.

Big shake up in Los Angeles.

It apprars that Karen Bass will only serve on term as the mayor of the second largest city in the United States. Being pro Israel, too relaxed on getting things done and allowing the Republicans define her doomed her.

Now you would think a Republican would be the replacement.

Not in California.

Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, in a non partisan primary, the two top candidates will run in the general election.

Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman is projected to become the next mayor of Los Angeles after ousting embattled Mayor Karen Bass after one term, according to Decision Desk HQ.

The race was called Wednesday evening with Raman leading by about 26,000 votes—roughly 3 percent—out of 784,262 votes cast, per DDHQ.

Raman defeated Bass after the two advanced from the June 2 nonpartisan jungle primary, ousting former reality TV star Spencer Pratt from the race.

The council member was a late entry to the mayoral race in February. A former Bass ally, she differentiated her campaign from the mayor’s incumbency by focusing on her handling of several issues, including fallout from 2025’s devastating Palisades and Eaton fires, homelessness, reform of the Los Angeles Police Department and affordable housing, and what she would do differently.

Raman was first elected in 2020, defeating incumbent City Council member David Ryu. She secured several endorsements in her mayoral campaign, including from the Sierra Club, Unite Here Local 11, LA Forward, the Eastside Padres Contra la Privatización and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Los Angeles chapter, of which she is a member.

Raman will be the first Asian American woman to be mayor of Los Angeles. She is also the first Indian American woman to be mayor.

Though she campaigned on being independent from DSA in her decisionmaking on the City Council, her political affiliation makes her the city’s first socialist mayor. It also gives the organization another victory with a democratic socialist leading a major American city, following New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s (D) victory last year.

Long before the primary, when Raman faced off against democratic socialist the Rev. Rae Huang, lawyer Job Harriman was the last Socialist Party candidate in the City of Angels to run for mayor in 1911.

One and done.

Harriman lost support before the election following the bombing of the Los Angeles Times building, which was linked to two union members whom Harriman represented in court, according to the Museum of the New Llano Colony.

Despite being a Democrat, she ran as an independent and had prominent backing from progressives and celebrities.

She iNithya Raman was born in Kerala, India, into a Tamil Iyer family. Her family moved to Louisiana when Raman was six years old, then settled in Burlington, Massachusetts.

Raman attended Harvard University and earned a bachelor's degree in social studies in 2003. 

Raman later attended MIT and earned a master's degree in urban planning in 2008. 

Raman became a naturalized American citizen at age 22.

Raman returned to India at age 23, and eventually founded the research firm Transparent Chennai. The firm's goal was to improve sanitation in the city of Chennai.

In 2013, Raman moved to Los Angeles and worked for the city administrative officer of Los Angeles.

In 2017, Raman founded and headed SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a homelessness outreach nonprofit in Los Angeles. 

She also served as the executive director of Time's Up Entertainment.

Raman resides in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. She is married to television screenwriter Vali Chandrasekaran, a fellow Harvard alumnus. The two have twins, a son and a daughter.