Los Angeles, long associated with the cautious, incremental politics that defined its postwar growth, now turns a page toward something far more unfamiliar: the leadership of a democratic socialist. Mayor Karen Bass, once a political ally of her challenger, has been defeated in her bid for a second term by Councilmember Nithya Raman, who will take the oath of office as the city’s next mayor.
The outcome marks a sharp break from the city’s recent political traditions. Raman’s win came as part of a broader national wave that swept Democrats into office from the East Coast to California — a wave that, somewhat ironically, also swept out a sitting Black, progressive mayor in Los Angeles. Yet for all its national context, Raman’s rise also reflects a distinctly local shift. The 45-year-old Indian immigrant and mother of twins built her coalition among younger voters and newer Angelenos — residents less tied to the city’s old political order and more eager for change.
Raman inherits a city that is simultaneously full of opportunity and strained by deep-rooted problems. Homelessness remains an entrenched crisis that eluded easy solutions under her predecessor. Housing costs show little sign of easing in the near term. The 2028 Summer Olympics loom on the horizon, demanding massive coordination. And the Los Angeles Police Department, along with broader questions of public safety, remains a flashpoint in city politics.
Some of her campaign commitments may prove difficult to reconcile. She has pledged to ensure a smooth preparation period for the Olympic Games while also vowing to remove the city’s police chief — two goals that could easily come into conflict.
Still, Raman begins her term riding a wave of genuine enthusiasm. Her election night celebration at the Greek Theatre in Griffith Park radiated the kind of joy rarely seen in municipal politics, and supporters hope that energy follows her into City Hall.
“Are you ready for an L.A. that loves you back?” she asked the crowd that night. The response left little doubt about how her backers feel.
Bass’s defeat makes her only the second Los Angeles mayor in the modern era to be denied a second term by voters. The first was James Hahn, who alienated his political base in the early 2000s by opposing San Fernando Valley secession and declining to reappoint Police Chief Bernard Parks — decisions that left him without the coalition needed to fend off Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005.
Bass’s unraveling was slower and more complicated. A confluence of circumstances — some beyond her control, others tied to her own leadership style — created the conditions for her loss.
Chief among the uncontrollable factors was the catastrophe of January 2025, when dry conditions and ferocious winds fueled the Palisades and Eaton fires, which tore through parts of the city and neighboring Altadena. The destruction was immense, and while the disaster was not Bass’s doing, it shattered public confidence in her leadership — particularly because she was traveling out of the country when the fires broke out. Her approval ratings cratered, and she never fully recovered politically.
Other criticisms focused more directly on her record. She approved a substantial pay increase for police officers, a move that drew the public backing of the police union but also fed perceptions that she was too closely aligned with that interest group. Some of her senior appointees underperformed, and she was often accused of second-guessing her own team, slowing decision-making on pressing issues, including homelessness policy.
Timing also worked against her. Bass managed to discourage serious challengers early in the race, but Raman entered relatively late and gained momentum as voters nationwide grew increasingly frustrated with the political climate under President Donald Trump — inflation, immigration crackdowns and an increasingly hostile national discourse. Both women opposed Trump’s policies, but the national mood made 2026 an especially difficult year for any incumbent to seek reelection.
Bass conceded the race Thursday morning, crediting her administration’s achievements while acknowledging the scale of her loss.
“Coming out of the pandemic, when encampments lined our streets and businesses were trying to reopen, we got Angelenos off the streets, made our neighborhoods safer, built more affordable housing and created new opportunities for working families,” Bass said in a statement. “We stood together through devastating wildfires and protected our immigrant communities when Donald Trump sent federal troops into our streets to spread fear and intimidation. That progress belongs to all of us.”
Raman, meanwhile, ran a campaign defined by optimism and a clear outsider positioning, even as a sitting council member. That dual identity allowed her to take credit for local successes — she frequently cited a decline in street homelessness within her own district — while still presenting herself as a break from City Hall’s status quo. Her campaign wasn’t flawless; a handful of late missteps gave Bass’s team a window of hope as the mayor closed the gap in the campaign’s final stretch.
In the end, though, voter dissatisfaction with Bass proved decisive. Roughly two-thirds of voters disapproved of her job performance, compared with about half who disapproved of Raman’s record on the council.
Now Raman must govern a city brimming with both promise and peril. Homelessness is likely to dominate her early agenda, and she has set an ambitious, measurable benchmark for herself: a 50% reduction in street homelessness within two years. That target may prove elusive — Bass, despite her own deep commitment to the issue, achieved roughly a 17% decline over four years.
Raman’s background in urban planning, paired with her council experience, may offer a different lens for tackling the issue. She is expected to scale back the city’s reliance on Inside Safe, the costly outreach program Bass championed that has yielded only modest, incremental results.
Much attention has been paid to the lack of support Raman received from her council colleagues during the mayoral race — a mix of policy disagreements, differing political calculations and simple rivalry. But City Hall relationships tend to be transactional rather than personal, and those same council members will likely find ways to work with the city’s new chief executive now that cooperation serves their interests.
The thorniest challenge ahead may be public safety. Raman struggled throughout the campaign to clearly articulate her position on the LAPD and its leadership. She repeatedly said Police Chief Jim McDonnell had lost public trust and indicated she intended to replace him, but she offered little explanation of the reasoning behind that assessment or how she would proceed.
At times, she suggested that removing a chief was a complicated process involving the City Council and the Police Commission. In truth, the pathway is fairly direct: the mayor appoints the Police Commission, which can be directed to remove the chief. While the chief could theoretically appeal to the council, such appeals rarely succeed. The mayor does have the authority to force out the chief.
Whether she should exercise that authority is a separate question. Crime has fallen notably since Bass and McDonnell took office, raising the risk that removing him could destabilize that progress without clear justification. Raman’s claims that the department has improperly cooperated with federal immigration authorities have also been disputed and remain short on specifics.
As she settles into her new role, Raman may find it wiser to tread carefully on this front, recognizing the importance of steady civilian oversight of the police department. The progressive values that propelled her candidacy have a legitimate place in shaping public safety policy — but change driven primarily by political symbolism, rather than clear evidence, carries its own risks.
Original source: CalMatters
