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Indian-American Nithya Raman, 44, narrowly clinched a place in the November run-off election for mayor of Los Angeles (LA), the second-largest US city, on Monday, edging out her Republican rival for the chance to challenge incumbent mayor Karen Bass. Raman, a former urban planner running as a Democrat, initially trailed Republican Spencer Pratt by over 40,000 before gaining ground as more votes were counted on Sunday and Monday.
Should Raman win the run-off election, Indian-American politicians will run two of the largest US cities, New York and LA. Zohran Mamdani pulled off a major election upset to win over New Yorkers last November.
In a post on X, Raman wrote she is incredibly honoured that voters have given her the opportunity to advance to the general election for LA mayor. “To the thousands of supporters who knocked doors, made calls, sent texts, donated, and opened their homes for events across the city, and to everyone else who made this moment possible: thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”
Raman promised to change the “broken status quo” and pointed to depleted services, higher rents, and the political power of special interest groups as key problems facing LA, home to around four million people.
She has promised to expand access to affordable housing, protection for renters, and to end homelessness. Raman pushed back against the excesses of the controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Born to immigrants from Kerala, Raman has degrees in urban planning from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, two of America’s elite institutions. Following stints at the office of LA’s City Administrative Officer and at the non-profit Time’s Up Foundation, Raman launched a bid to unseat an incumbent LA City Council member in 2020. At the time, she was the long-shot candidate. After all, no challenge to defeat an incumbent in LA had succeeded in 17 years. Raman proved the exception.
She stitched together a strong ground organisation campaign with support from lower-income voters to clinch a victory, which some saw as a political earthquake. As a council member, Raman focused on progressive priorities: housing, reducing rent increases, and combating homelessness.
With six years of city council experience, Raman set out to achieve another upset by launching her campaign to unseat incumbent Bass at the very last minute. Bass and Raman will face off in a general election in November.
Many see Raman as a formidable contender to unseat Bass, who is the first mayor in over 20 years facing a run-off election. Her predecessors won election as mayor in the first round of voting, winning a clear majority. Bass won 34% of the vote, which put her in first place in the first round but triggered the run-off election. Her middling showing has led some to believe that Raman has a real shot at pulling off the second major upset of her political career.
Raman maintains a substantial connection to India. Before entering politics, she lived in Chennai and ran a non-profit focused on improving access to sanitation and securing greater political rights for underserved communities.
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