Progressive Nithya Raman Jolts LA Politics With Last Minute Mayoral Bid

India-West News Desk

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles politics and City Hall were stunned early February 7 when City Councilmember Nithya Raman filed paperwork to run for mayor, launching an eleventh hour challenge to incumbent Karen Bass just hours before the filing deadline.

The move was so sudden that, Raman’s campaign website was barely live, featuring little more than her photographs and name. The sparse digital footprint underscored how new the bid is, catching allies, rivals and political observers off guard.

Even Bass, a longtime ally, appeared blindsided. According to Politico, the mayor learned of Raman’s decision shortly before it became public and later described herself as “flabbergasted.”

The surprise was magnified by the rarity of such a challenge. It has been more than two decades since a sitting Los Angeles city councilmember mounted a serious bid against an incumbent mayor, making Raman’s decision highly unusual in the city’s political history.

Raman’s late entry followed a week in of several high profile electoral exits. L.A. County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, former schools chief Austin Beutner and billionaire developer Rick Caruso all stepped aside, narrowing the field and creating an unexpected opening that Raman ultimately seized.

Raman, who represents the Fourth District, has increasingly emerged as one of the city’s most prominent progressive voices, particularly on housing and homelessness.  In 2020, she made history as the first Asian American woman and the first South Asian elected to the Los Angeles City Council. Supporters see her as part of a new generation of urban progressives focused on housing justice, public services and structural reform.

Her politics have drawn frequent comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor whose rise energized progressive and democratic socialist circles nationwide. Like Mamdani, Raman is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America and has not discouraged parallels between them, pointing to shared policy priorities and their South Asian backgrounds, according to various media reports., while critics question whether that approach can translate into citywide governance.

Born into a Malayali family in Kerala, she moved to the United States at age six, growing up in Louisiana. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political theory from Harvard University and a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen at 22, she returned to India for several years, founding the research firm Transparent Chennai to address sanitation and urban infrastructure issues.

She later settled in Los Angeles, where she co founded SELAH, a homelessness coalition, and served as executive director of Time’s Up Entertainment.

Raman lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood and is married to television screenwriter Vali Chandrasekaran, a fellow Harvard alumnus. The couple have twins, Karna and Kaveri.

The primary is on June 2 and a possible runoff in November if no candidate secures a majority.Even if her mayoral bid falls short, Raman faces little personal political risk; her council seat is not up for reelection until 2028.