Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — City Councilwoman Nithya Raman has ousted Karen Bass as the city’s mayor, making her the first mayoral challenger to defeat an incumbent since 2005.
The latest figures released Oct. 5 by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office showed Raman with 429,450 votes, or 52.1%, while Bass had 394,796 votes, or 47.9%. Raman had a 34,654-vote lead, up from 26,124 Oct. 4.
Raman is widely expected to continue extending her lead since her main support base — younger, progressive voters — tend to cast their ballots later in the election cycle, and those are the ballots now being tallied by the county.
“Los Angeles, I’m deeply honored to be your next mayor,” Raman said in a video statement. “I also wanted to pay tribute to Mayor Karen Bass, someone who has given decades of her life to making this city what it is today.”
Just before midday, Bass issued a statement conceding defeat.
“While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said. “I have called Council member Nithya Raman to congratulate her on her victory, and I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.
“Four years ago, you elected me as the first Black woman mayor in the history of Los Angeles. You gave me the honor of serving the city that raised me, and every single day since, I have carried that responsibility with me.
“I love Los Angeles. I believe in Los Angeles. And I will continue to ensure the promise of a better life belongs to all of us. Thank you.”
In 2005, then-City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa defeated James K. Hahn, who was seeking reelection for a second term. Two decades later Raman repeated that feat.
City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky congratulated Raman on her election.
“Having served alongside Nithya on the City Council, I know how much she cared about our city and the people we represent,” Yaroslavsky said in a statement. “I also want to thank Mayor Karen Bass for her leadership and partnership over the past four years.
“Los Angeles faces enormous challenges and opportunities,” Yaroslavsky added. “Meeting them will require all of us working together. Angelenos deserve nothing less. I look forward to working with the mayor-elect and my colleagues on the City Council to make housing more affordable, strengthen our neighborhoods, and make City Hall more effective, transparent and accountable.”
Bass held a narrow lead over Raman when an initial tally of early balloting was released on election night, but as the counting of ballots cast close to or on election day were added into the totals, Raman edged into the lead, and she has extended it with each ballot drop since.
Speaking at her election night party in Griffith Park, Raman said voters wanted change.
“We have so much to celebrate tonight here in Los Angeles,” she said. “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, because for too long our broken and unjust status quo has convinced Angelenos that this is the best that we can do,” Raman said.
“Our City Hall became a place where we became so used to saying ‘no,’ we forgot how to say ‘yes.’”
Bass gave an exuberant speech to her supporters on election night in Hollywood, continuing to express optimism about the election, but also touting what she saw as her accomplishments over the past four years.
“I have seen communities come together to stand up for one another, and I have seen people refuse to give up on the city, even when challenges before us seemed overwhelming,” Bass said. “That is the Los Angeles I know. That is the city that I love, and this is the Los Angeles that I will never stop fighting for.”
Bass touted her work on wildfire recovery, opposition to federal immigration raids and efforts to reduce homelessness.
The two candidates had been running neck-and-neck late in the campaign. A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and released last week, found both with 40% support among likely voters, while 19% remained undecided.
Bass had closed the gap after a September poll found Raman leading by 11 percentage points.
Bass and political action committees that support her focused their late-campaign attacks on Raman’s public-safety record, particularly her call to remove Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell. They also portrayed Raman as inexperienced.
Raman faced criticism after saying the LAPD was at a “gold standard” under former Chief Daryl Gates. She later apologized, explaining that she had been referring to Special Order 40, which limits city police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Jamie McBride, one of the directors of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers, told NBC4 this week a Raman victory would have devastating consequences for the department.
“If Nithya Raman becomes the mayor, the city needs to prepare for Armageddon,” McBride told the station, noting that the nation’s third largest police department is already severely understaffed ahead of the 2028 Olympics. “She won’t have to defund the police; police officers will just leave the department.”
Raman has said she is seeking the mayor’s office to fix what she calls a “broken city” under Bass. She has criticized Bass over a billion-dollar police salary agreement and the cost of a downtown convention center modernization project.
Bass sought four more years to continue work on homelessness, housing, affordability and public safety. The two repeatedly clashed over homelessness, policing and housing policy.
