Democratic socialist defeats incumbent Karen Bass in Los Angeles mayor's race

Democratic socialist Nithya Raman has toppled incumbent Karen Bass in the race for mayor of Los Angeles.

Raman's win stunned political watchers in California after she entered the race as a long-shot candidate against Bass, a political heavyweight who previously served in Congress and had never lost a race for political office.

Raman has frequently been compared to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Both are democratic socialists and ran on progressive platforms.

Her win solidifies that America's two biggest cities will now be led by democratic socialists, which include some of the most high-profile politicians in the US, such as Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Los Angeles was always likely to have a Democratic mayor but the question in the city - the second most populous city in the US - was just how left voters would be willing to go.

Bass, also Democrat, announced that she had called and conceded to Raman in a post on social media on Thursday, writing "while this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken."

"Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us," Bass wrote. "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."

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Raman, a member of city council and Indian immigrant, ran on a platform of change and fixing the "broken status quo and the politicians who failed them over and over again".

She ran on cutting homelessness, increasing housing in the city, saving Hollywood jobs from continued cuts and protecting residents from immigration enforcement efforts. Raman also vowed to fix the city's many issues, including helping beautification efforts, fixing roads and even helping bring back nightlife in the city.

The major issue in the race, however, was the LA fires, which killed dozens of people and razed neighbourhoods across the area in 2025. Bass faced intense political fallout over her absence during the emergency and the city's response to the disaster.

The next mayor in LA will oversee hosting the Super Bowl in 2027 and the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Raman entered the race as a long-shot candidate but slowly shored up support, especially from younger voters, before besting reality star Spencer Pratt in the primary race earlier this year.

Raman's win over Bass has all the appearances of echoing voter sentiment across the US as part of sweeping Democratic wins, including in deep-Republican country that hadn't seen liberal leaders in decades.

Washington DC also elected democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George as its new mayor, furthering progressive leadership in another major US city.

US President Donald Trump was asked at the White House about the wins by politicians on the left flank of the Democratic Party and said, "If you go by history, it's going to be a disaster".

Such candidates have become a focal point of attacks by Republicans.

Bass had been a prominent member of Congress before becoming LA's first black mayor. Her roots are closely tied to LA and its history, even working as a community organiser during the violent 1992 riots over police brutality in the beating of Rodney King, who was black.

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