Nithya Raman Enters LA Mayoral Race
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman has officially launched her campaign for mayor. The announcement was made at a recreation center in Van Nuys, kicking off her bid to succeed the city's incumbent leader in the next election.
Before entering politics, Raman worked as an urban planner with degrees from Harvard and MIT. She founded a research firm in India focused on city sanitation and later co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles. She also served as the executive director of Time's Up Entertainment, an organization born out of the #MeToo movement. Raman's 2020 election to the City Council was a major upset, making her the first challenger in 17 years to unseat an incumbent councilmember. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, her victory as the first South Asian woman on the council was powered by a strong grassroots volunteer campaign. Her mayoral bid is a direct challenge to incumbent Karen Bass, a former ally. The move was widely seen as a surprise, as Raman had endorsed Bass for re-election just weeks before her own announcement, and Bass had supported Raman's successful council re-election bid in 2024. As the chair of the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, Raman has voiced dissatisfaction with the mayor's approach to the issue, calling Bass's program to move unhoused people off the street not "financially sustainable." She was also one of only three councilmembers to vote against a city ordinance that banned homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. Raman's policy positions have evolved. After declaring "defund the police" during her 2020 campaign, she more recently stated that the LAPD must not shrink further. She has also called for changes to the city's "mansion tax" on high-value property sales, a measure she initially supported but now says has become a "major obstacle" to building new housing. The nonpartisan primary for mayor will take place on June 2, 2026. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff election will be held on November 3, 2026. Raman joins a crowded field of over three dozen candidates, including incumbent Karen Bass, community organizer Rae Huang, tech entrepreneur Adam Miller, and reality TV star Spencer Pratt.
