Nithya Raman Leads Nov. 3 Los Angeles Mayor Race as Anti-Establishment Anger Lifts 45-Year-Old
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 27
Nithya Raman Leads Nov. 3 Los Angeles Mayor Race as Anti-Establishment Anger Lifts 45-Year-Old
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 27
Summary
Polls now put 45-year-old City Council member Nithya Raman ahead in Los Angeles’s Nov. 3 mayoral race, positioning her to unseat Mayor Karen Bass after starting the year as a little-known local official.
Frustration with the Democratic establishment has fueled Raman’s rise, echoing the forces that elevated New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and helping her assemble a coalition of unions, democratic socialists and South Asian American workers.
A chain of political breaks also cleared her path: Bass’s strongest challenger exited after a family tragedy, while Republican former reality TV star Spencer Pratt entered and scrambled the electoral math in the heavily Democratic city.
Raman’s surge extends a pattern of beating expectations—she ousted an incumbent in 2020, the first such defeat in more than a decade, and survived a well-funded challenge in 2024.