Los Angeles has a new mayor. City Council member Nithya Raman defeated incumbent Karen Bass in Tuesday's mayoral election, according to projections from Decision Desk HQ, CBS News and NBC News, ending Bass's bid for a second term and making Raman the first Asian-American mayor in the city's history. Bass conceded on Thursday, calling Raman to congratulate her and promising a smooth transition.
With about 76% of ballots counted, Raman led with 52.1% of the vote to Bass's 47.9%, according to figures from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office — a margin of roughly 34,600 votes. County officials are scheduled to certify the results on November 27, and Raman's term begins on December 14.
The result
| Candidate | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Nithya Raman | 429,450 | 52.1% |
| Karen Bass (incumbent) | 394,796 | 47.9% |
The figures are from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office, with about 76% of expected ballots counted. More than 700,000 ballots from Tuesday's election remained to be tallied countywide as of Thursday morning, and officials expect Raman's lead to grow, since her support is strongest among younger, later-counting voters.
It is the first time since 2005 that an incumbent Los Angeles mayor has lost re-election. Raman, 45, is also only the second woman to hold the city's highest office, after Bass herself.
A historic first — and a generational shift
Raman was born in Thiruvananthapuram, in the Indian state of Kerala, and trained as an urban planner, with graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard. She won a seat on the Los Angeles City Council in 2020, defeating an incumbent, and entered the mayoral race at the last minute — announcing her candidacy in February, after she had already endorsed Bass.
Bass, 73, was elected in 2022 as the first woman and the first Black woman to lead Los Angeles. Before becoming mayor she served in the US House of Representatives and in the California Legislature, and she entered the race with the backing of the Democratic Party establishment in California and Washington, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Gavin Newsom.
Raman ran as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which endorsed her in September, and her victory adds to a run of gains for DSA-backed candidates in the 2026 elections — most prominently Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City. Raman has drawn comparisons with Mamdani throughout the race, though she has also stressed her independence, describing her goal as a "big tent progressive coalition that can dream of a better city together".
"Here in Los Angeles, this election is about change, too. A city that was engineered over the last few decades to resist change, and the people right here who said enough is enough."
The quote, from Raman's remarks to supporters after polls closed on November 3, captured the campaign's central argument: that the city government had stopped delivering on the basics.
Why Bass lost
Homelessness dominated the race. Bass made it her top priority on taking office in 2022, launching expensive motel rehousing programmes, but official figures released this summer showed homelessness rising again in Los Angeles, reversing declines in the previous two years. Raman, who pushed for more oversight of the city's homelessness spending while on the council, made the issue a central charge against the mayor's management.
Housing affordability ran alongside it. According to data published on October 30 by the California Association of Realtors, only 15% of households in Los Angeles County could afford to buy a home at the median price of $958,450. Raman blamed a severe shortage of new construction and the effect of short-term rentals such as Airbnb on the rental market, while Bass took a more conciliatory line.
Bass also paid a political price for her handling of the January 2025 wildfires, in which large parts of Pacific Palisades were destroyed. Many homes are still awaiting reconstruction nearly two years later, and voters blamed the mayor for cutting the fire department's budget and for being away on a diplomatic visit to Ghana when the disaster struck.
The campaign ranged beyond those issues into the everyday frustrations of running a sprawling city: public safety and police staffing, homeless encampments, the challenged entertainment industry — with film production leaving California and studio layoffs mounting — and the city's ability to fix potholes or open the long-delayed electric train at Los Angeles International Airport, known as the people mover.
Context: Raman's win came on the same night Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, a result driven in large part by frustration over the cost of living and the war with Iran. In Los Angeles, the same discontent took a local form: a vote against an incumbent administration that many residents felt had failed to deliver, even when that administration had the backing of the party's national leadership.
What Raman has promised
Raman has said she will sign an executive order on her first day in office to speed up housing approvals. On the council she pushed for renters' protections, greater oversight of homelessness spending, and helped shape the city's sanctuary city ordinance — a record that put her at odds with the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations in the city, which Bass also resisted.
She has also promised to go to City Hall daily to earn the trust of voters who did not support her, and to begin work immediately on affordable housing, parks, a transit system that gets people where they need to go, and a government capable of delivering on its promises.
Bass, in her concession statement, struck a gracious note. "Four years ago, you elected me as the first Black woman mayor in the history of Los Angeles," she said. "You gave me the honor of serving the city that raised me, and every single day since, I have carried that responsibility with me." She said she had called Raman to congratulate her and was committed to "ensuring a smooth and seamless transition".
"We have had enough of establishment politics. This campaign has made it clear that the days of our broken status quo are over."
Frequently asked questions
Has the result been officially certified?
Not yet. The race has been projected for Raman by Decision Desk HQ, CBS News and NBC News, and Bass has conceded. County elections officials are scheduled to certify the results on November 27.
When does Raman take office?
Her term begins on December 14. A Los Angeles mayor serves a four-year term, with a two-term maximum.
Why is the result historic?
Raman is the first Asian-American mayor of Los Angeles, and only the second woman to hold the office. It is also the first time since 2005 that an incumbent mayor of the city has lost re-election.
What will she face first?
An immediate test is the city's housing and homelessness crisis, which she has promised to tackle with a first-day executive order speeding up housing approvals. Longer term, she must prepare Los Angeles for the 2028 Summer Olympics, an event she criticised as a council member for its cost and impact on residents, but which she promised during the campaign to embrace.
Key takeaways
- Nithya Raman defeated incumbent Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral election, leading 52.1% to 47.9% with about 76% of ballots counted.
- Raman, 45, becomes the city's first Asian-American mayor and only its second woman mayor; it is the first defeat of an incumbent LA mayor since 2005.
- Bass conceded on Thursday and promised a smooth transition; county officials certify the result on November 27 and Raman takes office on December 14.
- Homelessness, housing affordability and the aftermath of the January 2025 wildfires drove the result, alongside frustration with basic city services.
- Raman has promised a first-day executive order to speed up housing approvals, and must now prepare the city for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
What happens next is a transition of a little over five weeks, during which Raman will build her administration while Bass completes her term. The first real test of the new mayor will come quickly: whether the housing approvals she has promised to accelerate on day one begin to move, and whether the city's homelessness figures — rising again after two years of decline — can be turned around. The Olympics, less than two years away, will put every one of those promises under the world's gaze.
