A woman born in Thrissur, Kerala, will soon run America's second-largest city. City councillor Nithya Raman has been elected Mayor of Los Angeles after defeating incumbent Karen Bass in the November 3 election, becoming the first Indian-American and the first South Asian to win the post. The Associated Press called the race on Thursday, November 5, after Bass conceded.
It is a remarkable result for a first-time mayoral candidate who, until February this year, had actually endorsed the mayor she went on to beat.
A late surge and a gracious concession
Bass led on election night, but Raman moved ahead early on Wednesday as more ballots were counted, and her lead kept growing. By the Los Angeles County Registrar's update on Thursday afternoon, Raman had 460,772 votes (52.70%) to Bass's 413,519 (47.30%), a margin of more than 47,000. Counting continues, with daily updates scheduled until November 13 and county certification on November 27.
Bass, who made history in 2022 as the first woman and first Black woman elected mayor of Los Angeles, conceded on Thursday. "I have called Councilmember Nithya Raman to congratulate her on her victory," she said, adding that "the people of Los Angeles have spoken." She is the first sitting LA mayor in two decades to lose a re-election bid.
Raman responded on X, writing that she was "deeply honored" to be the city's next mayor and thanking Bass for her leadership.
From Thrissur to City Hall
Raman was born in Thrissur in 1981 and moved to Louisiana with her family when she was six. She studied social studies at Harvard and later earned a master's in urban planning from MIT. Before settling in Los Angeles, she spent years in India, where she founded Transparent Chennai, a project that mapped civic problems in the city, and worked on housing rights in Delhi.
She moved to Los Angeles in 2013, worked in the city administrative officer's office, and in 2017 co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. In 2020 she defeated incumbent David Ryu to win the City Council seat for District 4, becoming the first South Asian and first Asian-American woman elected to the council. She was re-elected in 2024. She is married to television writer Vali Chandrasekaran, and the couple have twins.
Nithya Raman: key facts
| Born | 28 July 1981, Thrissur, Kerala |
| Education | Harvard (BA), MIT (Master's in urban planning) |
| Current post | LA City Council member, District 4 (since 2020) |
| Defeated | Mayor Karen Bass |
| Vote share (Nov 5 update) | 52.70% vs 47.30% |
| Race called | Thursday, November 5, 2026 |
| Political label | Democrat, backed by Democratic Socialists of America |
| Historic first | First Indian-American and South Asian mayor of LA |
What she promised voters
Raman ran a campaign centred on everyday frustrations. Her biggest pledge is to cut the number of people living in tents and encampments by at least half before the 2028 Olympics, with more medical outreach teams on the streets. Los Angeles has more than 45,000 unhoused residents, and homelessness has dominated city politics for a decade.
She also campaigned on rents and tenant protection, pointing to her 2025 motion capping rent increases on rent-stabilised flats. Fixing basics such as about 30,000 broken streetlights, potholes and damaged pavements was another theme, along with a promise to replace the LAPD chief. "Los Angeles is ready for change," she told supporters during the campaign.
As mayor she will also have to manage the city's roughly $14 billion budget, recovery from the Palisades Fire and preparations for the 2028 Olympic Games.
A big night for Indian-Americans
Raman's win came on a night of several notable results for the Indian-American community in the US midterms:
- Ranjeev Puri was chosen by Michigan House Democrats as their next Speaker after the party won back the chamber. The Canton lawmaker, born to Punjabi immigrants, is set to become the first Indian-American Speaker of the Michigan House when the new session begins.
- Jyot Singh won Georgia House District 97 in Gwinnett County, becoming the first Sikh American and first Indian-American elected to the Georgia General Assembly.
- Saba Haider, whose family hails from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, won Illinois House District 84 with about 71% of the vote.
What it means for India
For readers in India, and especially in Kerala, Raman's victory is a moment of pride, but it is also a sign of how Indian-origin politicians are moving from Congress and state legislatures into the most demanding executive jobs in American cities. Her years working on civic data in Chennai and housing in Delhi shaped her approach to urban problems, and she has often spoken about that experience.
What happens next
The count will be finalised over the coming weeks, with state certification due on December 11. Raman is expected to take office in mid-December, and all eyes will be on her first moves on homelessness and policing, the two issues that won her the job.
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