Nithya Raman elected first Indian-American mayor of Los Angeles
Synopsis
Nithya Raman, born in Kerala and trained at Harvard and MIT, has shattered a historic ceiling — becoming the first Indian-American and first South Asian elected mayor of Los Angeles, America's second-largest city, with over 52% of the vote. Her win is both a diaspora milestone and a mandate to tackle the city's most pressing crises: homelessness, housing, and public safety.
Key Takeaways
Nithya Raman won the Los Angeles mayoral race with 460,772 votes (52.70%) , defeating incumbent Karen Bass .
She is the first Indian-American and first South Asian ever elected mayor of Los Angeles .
Incumbent Karen Bass conceded on Thursday, 6 November 2026 and pledged a smooth transition.
Raman, born in Kerala , is a Harvard graduate with a master's in urban planning from MIT .
She co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition and was first elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020 .
Her campaign focused on housing affordability , homelessness , and improving city services including policing reforms.
Kerala-born Nithya Raman has won the Los Angeles mayoral race, becoming the first Indian-American and first South Asian ever elected to lead America's second-largest city. Incumbent mayor Karen Bass conceded defeat on Thursday, 6 November 2026 and pledged a smooth transition of power.
The Vote Count
The latest Los Angeles County election returns, updated at 4:34 pm local time, showed Raman with 460,772 votes, or 52.70%, against Bass's 413,519 votes, or 47.30%. Her margin had widened to 47,253 votes, up from 34,654 in the morning tally. The figures remain unofficial as election workers continue processing ballots from Tuesday's election.
Raman and Bass Speak
'Los Angeles, I am deeply honored to be your next mayor,' Raman wrote on X on Thursday, in a post that drew wide attention as her victory margin solidified. Bass, in a separate post on X, said: 'I've called Councilmember Raman to congratulate her, and I'm committed to a smooth transition.' The outgoing mayor thanked her supporters and said she would continue working for the city. Raman, in turn, said she had spoken with Bass and expressed gratitude for her 'leadership and decades of service.'
Reactions From Los Angeles
Los Angeles City Council member Adrin Nazarian congratulated Raman, drawing attention to their shared experience of arriving in the United States as immigrants. He described her rise from representing Council District 4 to winning the mayoralty as 'a testament to the American dream,' and said he looked forward to working with her on rising costs, pressure on the middle class, public transport, and keeping entertainment industry work in Los Angeles. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman also congratulated Raman, placing public safety at the centre of his remarks. 'Public safety is a shared responsibility, and I look forward to working with the new mayor and her team to keep every Angeleno safe,' he said.
Who Is Nithya Raman
Born in Kerala, India, Raman moved to the United States with her family at the age of six. She graduated from Harvard University and earned a master's degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before entering elected office, she worked on homelessness issues and co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. She became the first Asian-American woman and first South Asian elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020, winning re-election in 2024. Her mayoral campaign centred on housing affordability, homelessness, and improving city services — including better pothole and street-light repairs, alongside changes to policing, according to reports.
What Comes Next
Raman's election marks a historic milestone for the Indian-American community in US politics, extending a pattern of South Asian elected officials rising to prominent municipal and state roles across the country. Her administration will immediately face the city's entrenched homelessness crisis, housing costs, and public safety debates — challenges that defined her campaign and drew sharp attention from both supporters and sceptics. All eyes will now be on her transition team and early appointments as she prepares to take charge of one of the world's most complex and high-profile cities.
Point of View
But the harder story is what she inherits: a city where homelessness remains a humanitarian and political crisis that broke Bass's tenure. Raman's urban-planning credentials and community-organising roots give her an unusually substantive profile for a big-city mayor, but Los Angeles has a long record of chewing through reform mandates. The diaspora milestone will generate headlines; the real measure will be whether her administration moves the needle on the structural failures — housing supply, mental health infrastructure, and street-level safety — that voters repeatedly said drove their choice.
NationPress
6 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Nithya Raman and why is her election historic?
Nithya Raman is a Kerala-born urban planner and Los Angeles City Council member who has become the first Indian-American and first South Asian elected mayor of Los Angeles. Her election is historic both as a diaspora milestone and because Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the United States.
What was the final vote margin in the Los Angeles mayoral race?
According to returns updated at 4:34 pm local time on Thursday, Raman received 460,772 votes (52.70%) against Karen Bass's 413,519 votes (47.30%), a margin of 47,253 votes. The figures remain unofficial as ballot counting continues.
What happened to incumbent mayor Karen Bass?
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass conceded defeat and said she had called Raman to congratulate her, pledging a smooth transition. Bass, who was the city's first Black woman mayor, thanked her supporters and said she would continue working for Los Angeles.
What are the key issues Nithya Raman has pledged to address?
Raman's campaign centred on housing affordability, homelessness, and improving city services — including better pothole and street-light repairs and changes to policing, according to reports. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman also flagged public safety as a priority he hoped to work on with her.
What is Nithya Raman's background before becoming mayor?
Raman was born in Kerala, India, and moved to the United States at age six. She graduated from Harvard University and holds a master's degree in urban planning from MIT. Before entering politics, she worked on homelessness and co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. She was first elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020, becoming the first Asian-American woman and first South Asian on the council.
