The high-profile municipal contest largely hinged on severe criticism directed at Karen Bass for her absence and emergency management during the deadly 2025 Los Angeles fires. Nithya Raman capitalized on that discontent by running on an expansive platform prioritizing housing, homelessness solutions, infrastructure upgrades, and safeguards against immigration enforcement. Raman will now step in to prepare the metropolis for hosting the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics. The historic transition also aligns with a national wave of progressive municipal victories that has prompted sharp warnings from federal Republican leaders.
Key points
The election marks a significant milestone as the two largest cities in the United States…: The election marks a significant milestone as the two largest cities in the United States are now led by democratic socialists.
Progressive and democratic socialist candidates are securing municipal executive offices…: Progressive and democratic socialist candidates are securing municipal executive offices across major American cities, including Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C.
National Republican figures, including President Donald Trump, have sharply criticized th…: National Republican figures, including President Donald Trump, have sharply criticized the recent rise of democratic socialist municipal leadership.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
- Published
Democratic socialist Nithya Raman has toppled incumbent Karen Bass in the race for mayor of Los Angeles.
Raman's win stunned political watchers in California after she entered the race as a long-shot candidate against Bass, a political heavyweight who previously served in Congress and had never lost a race for political office.
Raman has frequently been compared to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Both are democratic socialists and ran on progressive platforms.
Her win solidifies that America's two biggest cities will now be led by democratic socialists, which include some of the most high-profile politicians in the US, such as Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Los Angeles was always likely to have a Democratic mayor but the question in the city - the second most populous city in the US - was just how left voters would be willing to go.
Bass, also Democrat, announced that she had called and conceded to Raman in a post on social media on Thursday, writing "while this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken."
High-level talks in Moscow focused on regional security arrangements while conflict persists among Iran, Israel, and the United States. Tehran remains firm that critical waterways will stay shut and direct negotiations stalled until Washington meets its strict preconditions. The outreach reflects a coordinated diplomatic push by Iranian leadership alongside proposed bilateral infrastructure projects.
Sweeping Democratic victories that secured control of both chambers of Congress swiftly undermined an unprecedented political spending spree by America PAC. The disappointing electoral outcomes dealt an immediate blow to high-profile conservative candidates, prompting a quiet retreat on social media. Meanwhile, the political shift sparked market worries over regulatory setbacks that rapidly erased billions from major corporate valuations.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson visited the key bellwether seat of Bentleigh to campaign alongside candidate Tynan Putt ahead of the state election on 28 November. The visit began with an embarrassing mishap as the Coalition's branded campaign vehicle struck a closed jewellery store awning while attempting to reverse into a parking bay. Despite the clumsy entrance, Wilson's party currently holds a solid ten-point lead in recent two-party-preferred polling.