Nithya Raman Projected to Win Los Angeles Mayor Race, Ousting Karen Bass

Decision Desk HQ projected on Wednesday evening that Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman has won the city's mayoral runoff, defeating incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and becoming the first Asian-American mayor in Los Angeles history. The call, issued at 4:49 p.m. PT, rested on the county's latest update, which gave Raman a lead of 26,124 votes with about two-thirds of the expected vote counted.

Raman, 45, led Bass 405,193 votes to 379,069, or 51.67 percent to 48.33 percent, out of 784,262 ballots counted in the update released at 4:28 p.m. on Wednesday. Newsmax also projected Raman the winner on Wednesday evening. The result ends Bass's tenure after a single term.

Key Points

• Decision Desk HQ projected at 4:49 p.m. PT on Wednesday, November 4, that Nithya Raman wins the Los Angeles mayoral runoff over incumbent Karen Bass.
• Raman led 405,193 votes (51.67%) to Bass's 379,069 (48.33%), a margin of 26,124 out of 784,262 counted, with about 67% of the expected vote tallied.
• Raman, 45, becomes Los Angeles's first Asian-American mayor and only the second woman to hold the office, and the first socialist mayor, according to Newsmax.
• The race is still uncertified: NBC News still rated it too early to call on Wednesday afternoon, and no other major outlet had confirmed a call.
• The county will release daily updates through November 13, with certification planned by November 27; mail ballots postmarked by Election Day still count if received within seven days.

What Happened

The projection arrived after a day of steady movement in Raman's favour. The county's 4:28 p.m. update put her ahead by 26,124 votes, up from a 16,594-vote lead in the first overnight count and 18,205 early on Wednesday morning. Decision Desk HQ made its call 21 minutes later, and Newsmax followed with its own projection that evening.

The race was decided by voters on Tuesday, November 3, but Los Angeles County counts ballots for days after Election Day. The first results on Tuesday night had Bass ahead, 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. By the overnight count, Raman had flipped the race, leading 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent, 377,458 votes to 360,864, with about 62.7 percent counted. Wednesday's updates widened the gap further.

Background: A Race That Flipped Overnight

The runoff capped a campaign few expected to be this close when it began. Raman entered the race in February, weeks after publicly endorsing Bass, and challenged a sitting mayor in a city where incumbents rarely lose. A pre-election poll from the University of California, Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times, released on October 28, had the race tied at 40 percent each, with 19 percent undecided.

The final days were dominated by an attack-ad row. Raman's campaign faced questions over its use of footage from the documentary "You Can See Everything" in an advertisement attacking Bass over the delayed LAX Automated People Mover, a 2.25-mile, $3.34 billion project due in 2023 and now expected no earlier than February 5, 2027.

Bass, 73, has been mayor since 2022 and was seeking a second term. Her first term was defined by the homelessness crisis and recovery from the January 2025 wildfires. Raman, first elected to the City Council in 2020, campaigned as a challenger from inside City Hall.

Nithya Raman Wins Los Angeles Mayor Race: A Historic First

If the projection holds, Raman will be the first Asian-American mayor in the history of Los Angeles, a city where Asian Americans make up a large and growing share of the population but have never held the top office. She will also be only the second woman to serve as mayor, after Bass herself, and, according to Newsmax, the first socialist mayor of the city.

The result is a landmark in a midterm cycle that has already delivered sweeping Democratic gains, with Democrats winning five new state-government trifectas and the Texas House on Tuesday. The Los Angeles result adds the country's second-largest city to that list, albeit with a twist: this was a Democrat defeating a Democrat, an intra-party upset rather than a partisan flip. For Bass, the outcome ends her time in City Hall after one term, making her the first Los Angeles mayor to lose re-election in decades.

Reactions and Quotes

Raman stopped short of declaring victory at her election-night gathering at the Greek Theater, even as the overnight count moved in her favour. Her caution matched the state of the race at the time: the contest was still uncalled, and thousands of ballots remained to be counted. Neither candidate had claimed victory or conceded when the projections were issued on Wednesday evening.

The projections split the coverage: Decision Desk HQ and Newsmax called the race for Raman, while NBC News held back, still rating it too early to call on Wednesday afternoon. Newsmax described Raman as the city's first socialist mayor, a label that underlines how the race is being read nationally.

Why It Matters

Los Angeles is America's second-largest city, and its mayor controls a budget of billions, a police department of about 9,000 officers, and the response to homelessness, housing and wildfire recovery. A change of mayor therefore matters far beyond City Hall, and an incumbent losing after one term is a rare event in the city's politics.

What Happens Next

The count continues. Los Angeles County will release daily ballot updates through November 13, and mail ballots postmarked by Election Day will keep arriving and being counted if they are received within seven days. Certification is planned by November 27, and only then will the result be official. Raman's team will now begin planning a transition, while Bass remains mayor until the new term begins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the Los Angeles mayor race? Decision Desk HQ projected on Wednesday, November 4, that Nithya Raman wins the runoff over incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. Newsmax also projected Raman the winner. The race is not yet officially certified.

What was the vote margin? In the county's 4:28 p.m. Wednesday update, Raman led 405,193 votes (51.67%) to Bass's 379,069 (48.33%), a margin of 26,124 votes out of 784,262 counted, with about 67% of the expected vote tallied.

Why is the race historic? Raman, 45, would become Los Angeles's first Asian-American mayor and only the second woman to hold the office.

Is the result official yet? No. NBC News still rated the race too early to call on Wednesday afternoon. The county will publish daily updates through November 13, and certification is planned by November 27.

When did Raman enter the race? She entered in February 2026, weeks after publicly endorsing Bass, after first being elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020. Bass, 73, has been mayor since 2022.

Read more: Raman widens lead over Bass as count reaches 67%; Raman leads Bass as overnight count flips; and Democrats sweep state governments with five new trifectas.