Los Angeles just elected a democratic socialist as mayor.
NBC News projects that City Council member Nithya Raman has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, ending Bass’s single term atop the country’s second-largest city and capping a swift rise for a progressive challenger who campaigned against what she called a “broken status quo.”
Raman, 45, is part of the Democratic Socialists of America. Her win means three major U.S. cities will now be led by democratic socialists, joining New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Washington, D.C., Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George, who also won this week.
Bass, a former six-term congresswoman and longtime California Democratic power player, faced heavy criticism over her response to the January 2025 Pacific Palisades wildfire — the most destructive in Los Angeles history — which erupted while she was in Ghana for a presidential inauguration. The fire destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people.
Raman, a former urban planner and activist, hammered Bass on homelessness and housing costs and argued City Hall has shown “a reluctance to move forward with the transformative policy change that this city needs right now.” Bass countered that Raman was “not ready for primetime” after six years on the City Council.
The race also exposed a deep Democratic split over Gaza. At a September forum, Raman said she agreed that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians; Bass rejected that characterization.
Raman represents a council district stretching from the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains. Born in India, she moved to the U.S. as a child and later attended Harvard and MIT. She originally endorsed Bass early this year before launching her own last-minute bid; the two advanced from the June primary runoff over reality-TV figure Spencer Pratt.
One of the biggest tests ahead for the incoming mayor: delivering the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.