“We are running against corporate landlords, city hall insiders, and corporations who have spent years making sure City Hall does not work for ordinary residents.” — Nithya Raman, election night, June 2026
Nithya Raman, an Indian-American urban planner and Los Angeles City Council member, secured second place in the June 2, 2026 primary election for Mayor of Los Angeles. She will face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in a November 3, 2026 runoff — the first Los Angeles mayoral runoff since 2005. Born in Kerala to a Tamil family, Raman is the first South Asian ever elected to the LA City Council, and could become the first person of Indian origin to lead the second-largest city in the United States.
👤 Who Is Nithya Raman?
Born on July 28, 1981, to Tamil parents in Kerala, India, Nithya Raman emigrated to the United States at age six, settling first in Louisiana and later in Massachusetts. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Harvard University and a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) from MIT. Her academic background in urban planning has been the throughline of her entire political career.
Before entering electoral politics, Raman co-founded the SELAH Neighbourhood Homeless Coalition in Los Angeles in 2017, a nonprofit delivering services across several city communities. She also served as Executive Director of Time’s Up Entertainment, the industry-focused arm of the Time’s Up movement.
In 2020, Raman ran for the LA City Council’s 4th District, unseating incumbent David Ryu — the first challenger to defeat a sitting LA City Council member in 19 years, described as a “political earthquake.” She became the first Asian-American woman and first South Asian ever elected to the Los Angeles City Council. Her District 4 encompasses approximately 260,000 residents across areas including Sherman Oaks and the Miracle Mile.
Think of Raman as an urban planner who went into politics from the ground up — not through party machinery, but through homeless outreach, community organising, and an upset council victory. She is now applying the same grassroots approach to a citywide race against a well-funded incumbent with national party backing.
📌 Entry into the Mayoral Race
Raman announced her candidacy on February 7, 2026 — just hours before the filing deadline — 115 days before the June 2 primary. The entry surprised political observers, especially since Raman had previously endorsed Bass for re-election and informed the mayor before going public. To qualify for the ballot, she had to either pay a $300 fee with 500 valid signatures, or submit 1,000 signatures without a fee.
The June 2 primary produced no outright winner from 14 candidates. With 93% of votes counted by June 8, 2026, Bass led with 34.3%, Raman placed second with 28.6%, and Republican Spencer Pratt received 25.8%. Raman’s advancement was not immediate — early results showed her trailing Pratt by roughly 40,000 votes, but she progressively closed the gap as mail-in and provisional ballots were tallied, overtaking him with 229,576 votes to his 207,757.
The DSA Factor: Raman was initially backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 2020, but the DSA Los Angeles chapter censured her in 2024 over her acceptance of an endorsement from Democrats for Israel–LA amid Gaza-related disagreements. This illustrates the complex progressive realignment in Los Angeles politics.
⚖️ The Political Context: Why Bass Is Vulnerable
Karen Bass, the first Black woman to serve as Mayor of Los Angeles, was elected in November 2022, defeating billionaire developer Rick Caruso with 54.8% of the vote. She entered the 2026 election cycle facing significant political headwinds.
The most damaging was the Palisades Fire of January 2025 — the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history. Bass was travelling in Ghana when the fire began, despite prior warnings of dangerous fire conditions. The episode sparked a recall campaign (RecallBassNow.com), which needed signatures from 15% of registered LA voters. Critics also noted that the LAFD budget had been cut by over $17 million during her tenure. Beyond the wildfire, Los Angeles faces a near-$1 billion budget shortfall, an ongoing homelessness crisis with an estimated 27,000 people sleeping on the streets nightly, sluggish wildfire reconstruction, and widespread dissatisfaction with basic services.
Bass points to positive metrics — a nearly 18% reduction in street homelessness over two years and lower homicide rates — but critics argue the pace of improvement is insufficient given the scale of challenges.
| Issue | Bass’s Position / Record | Raman’s Critique |
|---|---|---|
| Homelessness | Inside Safe programme — hotel rooms for unhoused residents | 40% of participants returned to streets; cost $225+/night vs $86 alternatives |
| Wildfire Response | Palisades Fire reconstruction underway | Was in Ghana when fire started; LAFD budget cut $17M |
| Budget | 18% reduction in street homelessness cited | Near-$1 billion budget shortfall |
| Housing | Ongoing affordability programs | Proposes tripling annual housing construction output |
✨ Raman’s Campaign Platform
Raman’s campaign positioned her as a change candidate within the Democratic mainstream. Her platform centred on several pillars:
- Homelessness Reform: Scale back Bass’s Inside Safe programme and redirect the approximately $300 million in annual city homelessness funding (currently via LAHSA) toward a city-run system with performance-based contracting, rental vouchers, shared housing units, and street medicine teams.
- Housing: Triple the city’s annual housing construction output — affordable, market-rate, and social housing. Her urban planning background makes housing the throughline of her political career.
- Public Safety: Reject both police defunding and defending the status quo; instead, propose consistent LAPD response times and a greater role for unarmed crisis responders.
- Renters & Infrastructure: Focus on renters, younger voters, infrastructure delivery, and support for LA’s film industry amid challenges from AI and shifting production patterns.
Raman’s platform critiques Inside Safe’s $225+/night hotel cost vs $86/night for alternatives — this is a classic public policy argument about cost-effectiveness. In exam contexts, consider: should cities prioritise immediate comfort for homeless individuals (hotels) or scale (cheaper shelters)? What metrics should define “success” in homelessness policy?
📜 LA’s Runoff Electoral System
Los Angeles uses a nonpartisan, top-two primary system for municipal elections. This means candidate party affiliations do not appear on the ballot. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two finishers advance to a general (runoff) election — regardless of party. This system is standard across California municipal elections.
The November 3, 2026 runoff will be an intra-Democratic contest — both Bass and Raman are Democrats — in a city where registered Democrats dominate the electorate. The last LA mayoral runoff was in May 2005, when City Councillor Antonio Villaraigosa defeated incumbent Mayor James Hahn. Of the ten Los Angeles mayors who sought a second term since 1925, only John C. Porter (1929) and James Hahn (2005) were denied re-election. The 2026 runoff will test whether Karen Bass becomes the third.
Don’t confuse: This is a nonpartisan, top-two primary — party labels do not appear on the Los Angeles mayoral ballot. Both Bass and Raman are Democrats, but the runoff is not labelled as a Democratic primary. Also note: the last runoff was 2005 (Villaraigosa vs. Hahn) — not a more recent election.
🌍 Indian-American Political Significance
If elected in November 2026, Raman would become the first person of Indian origin to serve as Mayor of Los Angeles and, given the city’s size (nearly four million residents), one of the most powerful Indian-American elected officials in US history.
Indian-American political representation at the local level has grown notably in recent years. Danny Avula (born in Hyderabad) was elected Mayor of Richmond, Virginia in 2024 — the city’s first Asian-American mayor. Raj Salwan (born near Amritsar) became the first Indian-American Mayor of Fremont, California in December 2024. Aftab Pureval (Punjabi and Tibetan heritage) has served as Mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio since 2021. In New York City, Zohran Mamdani (of Indian origin) ran in the 2025 mayoral race.
Raman’s personal narrative — Tamil-origin, Kerala-born, educated at Harvard and MIT, career built through community organising rather than conventional party machinery — resonates with a broader immigrant political story and will be significant for exams covering Indian diaspora, minorities in American politics, and current affairs.
The Raman candidacy raises key questions: Does diaspora political representation reflect successful integration, or does it face unique structural barriers? How does identity politics intersect with policy platforms in large, diverse American cities? What does Raman’s trajectory — immigrant, grassroots organiser, policy expert — tell us about how political capital is built in 21st-century democracies?
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Nithya Raman was born on July 28, 1981, in Kerala, India, to Tamil parents. She emigrated to the US at age six.
In the June 2, 2026 primary, Bass led with 34.3%, Raman placed second with 28.6%, and Pratt received 25.8%. No candidate exceeded 50%, triggering a runoff.
The last LA mayoral runoff before 2026 was in May 2005, when Antonio Villaraigosa defeated incumbent Mayor James Hahn. The 2026 runoff is the first in 21 years.
Raman holds a BSc from Harvard University and a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
Los Angeles uses a nonpartisan, top-two primary system. Party affiliations do not appear on municipal ballots. If no candidate exceeds 50%, the top two advance to a runoff regardless of party.
