Los Angeles city council member Nithya Raman enters mayoral race | Los Angeles
Los Angeles city council member Nithya Raman officially entered the mayoral race on Saturday, announcing her campaign during a press conference.
Raman, who represents districts from the San Fernando Valley to Silver Lake, announced his candidacy just hours before the filing deadline. He now joins a field that includes former reality television personality Spencer Pratt, Housing Now California deputy director Rae Huang, veteran city engineer Asaad Alnajjar and incumbent mayor Karen Bass.
During his speech, Raman said he was concerned that the city “is no longer a place full of opportunities.”
“Los Angeles is at a tipping point, and people are feeling it in the most fundamental ways,” he said. “Housing costs are pushing families out of the city, a homelessness system that lacks clear ownership and accountability leaves people stuck in crisis as the city moves from emergency to emergency. Even as crime is down because broken streetlights remain broken and the city can’t manage basic needs, too many people feel unsafe walking their blocks at night.”
He continued: “And while everyone agrees we need more housing, the city still struggles to lead with urgency, with too little construction being done while working families are priced out again and again.”
Raman also argued that Los Angeles needs a mayor who will hold city departments accountable, plan ahead for emergencies, and push for increased housing supply and affordability. During his tenure on the city council, he focused on rent stabilization and efforts to address homelessness.
His entry into the race marks the beginning of a strong challenge for Bass, who is seeking a second four-year term. The incumbent has recently faced scrutiny for his handling of the historic wildfires that burned parts of Los Angeles early last year.
Raman was previously a close ally of Bass and was the first council member elected with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, which scored a landslide victory last fall with the election of New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
He also forged strong connections with leaders of the Yimby movement, which advocated expanding housing production through measures such as zoning single-family neighborhoods and revising Measure ULA, the so-called mansion tax on real estate sales of $5.3 million or more.
Raman’s last-minute decision to run comes at the end of one of the most volatile mayoral filing periods in Los Angeles in decades. His announcement comes on the heels of Los Angeles county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath opting not to enter the race, opting instead to focus on her bid for a second term on the board of supervisors.
Horvath publicly announced his decision a day before the deadline to submit a statement of intent for the June 2 primary, becoming the third potential candidate in two days to decline to challenge Bass.
Earlier in the week, former Los Angeles unified school district superintendent Austin Beutner and billionaire developer Rick Caruso also announced they would not run.
The mayoral race comes as the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown has unsettled the city and kept the issue at the forefront of voters’ minds. Bass called the raids “an attack from our own federal government” and an affront to cities and people in the United States.
