Democratic Socialists gain ground with Nithya Raman’s LA win - Newsweek
Nithya Raman is projected to oust incumbent Karen Bass as mayor of Los Angeles, delivering another major victory for democratic socialists and extending the movement's growing influence over some of America's largest cities.
NBC News and CNN projected Thursday that Raman, a Los Angeles City Council member and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) member, defeated Bass, the former six-term congresswoman who has led the nation's second-largest city for one term.
Raman leads Bass 52.1 percent to 47.9 percent, with 76 percent of the expected vote counted, according to the Associated Press.
Raman, 45, joins New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Washington, D.C., Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George as DSA-aligned leaders of major cities. Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson also identifies as a democratic socialist, though she is not a DSA member.
Newsweek has reached out to the Raman and Bass campaigns, along with the DSA, via email on Thursday afternoon for comment.
Raman and Bass advanced to the November runoff after neither won a majority in June. Bass finished first with about 34 percent of the primary vote, while Raman took roughly 29 percent, setting up a contest between the one-term incumbent and a former political ally running as a progressive alternative to City Hall.
The runoff centered heavily on Los Angeles’ housing and homelessness crises, with Raman arguing that the city needed to build more housing and move faster on homelessness, while Bass defended her administration’s record and signature Inside Safe program.
Bass also faced scrutiny over her response to the 2025 Palisades fire, while Raman sought to capitalize on dissatisfaction with the political establishment and rising homelessness. Despite overlap on some policies, the two differed on housing density, policing and the city’s response to federal immigration enforcement.
Raman, 45, is an urban planner and progressive politician who has represented Los Angeles’ 4th City Council District since 2020. Before entering elected office, she worked on urban development and homelessness, including founding the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles. She was reelected to the City Council in 2024.
Raman studied social studies at Harvard University before earning a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. Her political rise began with her 2020 victory over incumbent Councilmember David Ryu.
Raman is a Tamil Indian American who was born in Kerala, India, in 1981. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was 6, initially settling in Louisiana before moving to Massachusetts. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen at age 22.
After graduating from Harvard and MIT, Raman spent several years in India, where she founded Transparent Chennai, a research initiative examining urban issues including sanitation and access to public services. She moved to Los Angeles in 2013.
Raman is poised to be the first Asian American mayor of Los Angeles.
California voters, meanwhile, appear poised to reject Proposition 40, a closely watched proposal that would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on individuals with more than $1 billion in assets, with 90 percent of the proceeds earmarked for healthcare and the remainder for food assistance and education programs.
As of Thursday morning, 55 percent had voted against Proposition 40 and 44.9 percent supported it, with about 62 percent of the estimated vote counted, according to results provided by the Associated Press and published by KQED. The proposal drew support from independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic California Representative Ro Khanna and the California Democratic Party, while Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom opposed it, warning that the wealth tax could drive wealthy residents from the state.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gabe Whisnant and Dave Siminoff.
