Los Angeles gets left-wing mayor

The result was close and the counting of who would be the next mayor of Los Angeles dragged on. But then incumbent Karen Bass admitted defeat - City Councilor Nithya Raman won. This is making headlines mainly because Raman's victory means that left-leaning Democrats will now lead the two largest cities in the US after Zohran Mamdani became mayor of New York.

The 45-year-old progressive Raman has been an LA city councilor for six years. She was supported in her candidacy by left-wing politicians such as Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the largest socialist organization in the USA.

At the beginning of the mayoral election campaign, Raman initially supported the 73-year-old incumbent Karen Bass in her re-election. Only a few hours before the end of the application period did she throw her own hat into the ring, says political director Averi Harper from ABC.

Raman challenged Bass from the left and talked a lot about the high cost of living and homelessness in the city. These issues were extremely important in the election campaign, said Harper.

The African-American Bass was the first woman to be elected mayor of Los Angeles in 2022. The Democrat previously worked for many years as a member of the California Parliament and the House of Representatives in Washington.

Bass has recently had to take a lot of criticism for her handling of the devastating fires in Los Angeles in January 2025 and the slow reconstruction of the destroyed streets. During the election campaign, she tried to portray Raman as unstable, inexperienced and indecisive.

Raman came to the USA from India with her family when she was six. She studied urban planning, and in 2020 the mother of two made it to the Los Angeles City Council as a political newcomer. During the election campaign, she promised change in Los Angeles: For so long, the city administration made it seem as if solving the city's problems was impossible. But hopelessness is fatal to a city, she said, and she refuses to accept it.

When asked to what extent she felt committed to the Democratic Socialists' agenda, Raman explained in interviews that she saw herself as independent. Although she is a member, she has also made a name for herself as one of the most independent voices in the city council. She is not guided by a particular ideology - only by what is best for the city.

During the election campaign, US President Donald Trump's Republicans tried to brand Democrats across the country as socialists and, above all, to draw members of the DSA closer to communists. That didn't deter voters, said ABC political director Harper. This political orientation no longer alienates voters in large metropolises.

The fact that two politicians from the same political camp are running against each other in the mayoral election in Los Angeles has to do with a peculiarity of electoral law. The position is officially non-partisan in Los Angeles. According to the California Constitution, parties are not allowed to nominate candidates. Neither in the primary election, in which Raman and Bass prevailed, nor in the main election that has now taken place, the applicants will stand as official candidates of a party.