Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman entered the race for mayor Saturday, challenging incumbent and political ally Karen Bass hours before the noon deadline for candidates to file paperwork for the June 2 primary.
During a morning news conference, Raman said she and Bass share many values about what matters for the city, but that Los Angeles faces issues with affordability and housing, among other things, that she hopes to change.
“I do feel like Angelenos have really given us a lot of faith. Voted for more taxes to address affordable housing issues, to address homelessness, to address some of our biggest crises, and if we don’t show results to them, I think we will lose them,” Raman said.
“We are making decisions about our budget that are based on political calculations, as opposed to what is best for Angelenos and what is best for Los Angeles’ middle class,” Raman added. “I think we can change.”
Raman said she was “afraid that the city is no longer a place of opportunity.”
“Los Angeles is at a breaking point, and people feel it in the most basic ways,” she said. “Housing costs are forcing families out of the city. A homelessness system that lacks clear ownership and accountability is leaving people stuck in crisis, while the city cycles from emergency to emergency. Too many people don’t feel safe walking down their own blocks at night even as crime comes down, because broken street lights stay broken, and the city can’t seem to manage the basics.”
Raman described her relationship with Bass as “strong and close,” built over the last few years. She said she spoke with Bass about her mayoral run, but did not provide further details, saying that she “prefers to maintain that privacy right now.”
Raman acknowledged that her decision to run came late, and will likely impact her prospects for endorsements from labor groups, political organizations and others.
“It’s very late in the process to get in the game. I was an outsider when I first ran, and I think I’ll be an outsider in this race, and I’m OK with that,” she said.
Bass herself did not immediately respond to the news, but Douglas Herman, a campaign advisor for Bass, criticized Raman’s mayoral bid.
“The last thing Los Angeles needs is a politician who opposed cleaning up homeless encampments and efforts to make our city safer,” he said. “Mayor Bass will continue changing L.A. by building on her track record delivering L.A.’s first sustained decrease in street homelessness, a 60 year-low in homicides, and the most aggressive agenda our city has ever seen to make our city more affordable.”
Raman was elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024 to represent the 4th Council District, representing communities in the southern portion of the San Fernando Valley and eastern Santa Monica Mountains such as Encino, Sherman Oaks, Studio City and Hollywood Hills, as well as Griffith Park, Los Feliz and Silver Lake.
She chairs the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee and is part of the council’s more left-leaning bloc alongside colleagues Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Ysabel Jurado.
Her decision to pursue a mayoral run is the latest twist this week leading up to the filing deadline. Hours earlier, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath ended weeks of speculation about a potential run, announcing Friday night that she would instead focus on her campaign for a second term on the Board of Supervisors.
Horvath was the third potential candidate in two days to say they wouldn’t challenge Bass. On Thursday, former Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Austin Beutner and billionaire developer Rick Caruso both said they wouldn’t be running.
Maryam Zar, who formed Palisades Recovery Coalition, told the Los Angeles Times that she was also weighing a mayoral bid, but would decide on the final day.
In a 1-minute-33 second video posted on social media, Horvath thanked her supporters for their faith, but affirmed she would not pursue a mayoral run.
“It’s clear you want a different kind of leadership, and you’re ready to see change in your city. I am excited to work with you on that. It’s why you elected me to be your Los Angeles County supervisor, and so I know that work is not yet finished,” Horvath said in her video announcement.
“So, I am choosing not to run for mayor and instead focus on my re-election for Los Angeles County supervisor, not because I’m stepping away from a challenge,” Horvath added. “I’m stepping even more into the one we’ve already started.”
If Horvath had become a candidate for mayor, she would have been forced to end her effort to be elected to a second term on the Board of Supervisors in the June primary under the state law prohibiting a person to run for more than one office in the same election. Raman faced no such dilemma, as she is not up for re-election to her council seat this year.
When the filing deadline officially passed at noon Saturday, 40 potential challengers had been issued papers to challenge Bass, according to the Office of the City Clerk. Each potential candidate must gather 500 voter signatures to get on the ballot, and file a nomination petition by March 4. The field of potential mayoral candidates is likely to become smaller by then.
Beutner, the best-known of the potential challengers before Raman’s announcement, announced Thursday that he would not run because of the unexpected death of his 22-year-old daughter Emily last month.
The race also took an unexpected turn this week after a bombshell story published Wednesday by the Los Angeles Times saying Bass directed the watering-down of an after-action report critical of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s handling of the deadly January 2025 Palisades Fire. Bass vehemently denied the accusation.
Caruso, who lost the 2022 mayoral election to Bass, said Wednesday that he contemplated another run following The Times’ story, but said on Thursday he would not run.
“Rick is incredibly moved by the outpouring of support but reached an earlier decision in a thoughtful process and it stands. He will not be a candidate for mayor,” Mike Murphy, a political consultant for Caruso, told The Times on Thursday.
The Times, quoting “two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office,” reported that after receiving an early draft of the after-action report, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva the report could result in legal liabilities for those failures.
The paper said Bass held onto the original draft until after changes were made. It was unclear whether Villanueva or other LAFD officials, or anyone in the mayor’s office, made “line-by-line edits” at Bass’ specific instructions or if they imposed changes after receiving a general direction from the mayor.
Caruso said that any edits or efforts to water down the after-action report put residents at risk again and “violates the sacred duty that an elected official has to the residents.”
However, Bass’ office, in a statement Wednesday responding to the story, said neither the mayor nor her staff made changes to earlier report drafts — and that Bass reviewed an early draft and asked only that the LAFD make sure it was accurate on issues such as weather and budget.
Bass later spoke on KNX to again vehemently deny she directed edits to the after-action report.
“Absolutely false, 100%,” Bass said. “Just think about it for a minute. I’m the one who ordered the after-action report when the fire chief would not do it. I fired her. Why would I water down a report that essentially presented the information for why I fired her? That makes no sense.”
Other challengers to Bass include Spencer Pratt, a reality television personality and Palisades Fire survivor; and Rae Huang, a community organizer.
Adam Miller, founder and former CEO of workforce education company Cornerstone OnDemand, announced his bid for mayor Thursday.
Of the 10 Los Angeles mayors to have sought a second term since the office’s term became four years in 1925, only two have been denied second terms — John C. Porter in 1929 and James Hahn in 2005.