Nithya Raman beats Karen Bass to become Los Angeles' first South Asian mayor with 52% of the vote

Nithya Raman has won the Los Angeles mayor's race, defeating incumbent Karen Bass and becoming the first South Asian to lead America's second-largest city. The Associated Press called the race on Thursday 5 November with Raman on 52% of the vote, Al Jazeera reported, and CBS News projected the same result.

Who is Nithya Raman

Raman, 45, was born in India and worked as an urban planner before winning a seat on the Los Angeles City Council. She was once an ally of Bass and had first endorsed her re-election, then changed course and entered the race in February, a few hours before the filing deadline.

Her campaign was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). She beat a sitting mayor who had the support of California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

What she has promised

• Housing: more affordable homes in one of the most expensive cities in the US.
• Homelessness: a different approach, with more medical teams sent to help people living on the streets.
• City services: fixing services she says have been neglected.
• Policing: replacing the police chief, over concerns about cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

In her victory speech she said the city's "broken and unjust status quo" had convinced residents that this was the best Los Angeles could do.

Why Bass lost

Bass, elected in 2022 as the city's first Black woman mayor, is the first Los Angeles mayor in more than two decades to lose a re-election bid. Her term was dogged by criticism over homelessness and over the response to the Palisades Fire, which broke out in January 2025 while she was abroad. She congratulated Raman on Thursday and promised a smooth handover.

Part of a wider left-wing surge

Raman's win came in the same week as the midterm elections in which Democrats took control of both houses of Congress (our story on the House Republican leadership fallout). The DSA says candidates it backed won a record number of races, and her victory follows Zohran Mamdani's win as New York City mayor last year. Los Angeles, a city of more than 3.8 million people, also hosts the Olympic Games from July 2028.

What it means for markets

The midterm results have shaken US tech stocks this week (Nasdaq story). In Pakistan the dollar held steady at Rs 276.67 on Friday morning: follow it on our dollar rate page or convert any amount with the currency converter.