Nithya Ramen wins L.A. mayor’s race
Bloomberg News
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass conceded the mayor’s race to opponent Nithya Raman on Thursday, now the work begins to figure out what kind of mayor that Raman will be.
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Though Raman has support from the Democratic Socialists on the national level, she professes to be a fiscal hawk.
The Democratic Socialist label — at least the way it’s currently used — doesn’t necessarily counter the idea that Raman could be a fiscal hawk, according to Roderick Kiewiet, a political science professor at the California Institute of Technology.
“I think it’s almost axiomatic that she will be a much more responsible person than Karen Bass, because who could be worse,” Kiewiet said. “It’s hard to point to anything in the city since Bass became mayor that is doing okay.”
He also added that in terms of what the mayor can spend money on, there are varying degrees of freedom, because there are big ticket items that have to be funded.
“There are so many things you have to spend money on and there is not much wiggle room,” Kiewiet said. “I think we will survive her, which is how I feel about almost any politician.”
Raman has criticized Bass for
Where Raman could make a difference on infrastructure and spending is by making changes to the institutions that often seem to be at odds with each other, Kiewiet said.
“If I were to advise Raman, the No. 1 priority has to be institutional or structural reform, so you don’t have four major powerful agencies with fiefdoms pulling in one direction or another,” Kiewiet said.
In May, Bass proposed the city have a 20-year infrastructure plan similar to that of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority. But debt issued by the city directly is limited. The Los Angeles County Department of Water and Power operates mainly as a separate entity, as does the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles International Airport, which can make cohesiveness a challenge.
“To get anywhere over the long term, you really have to figure out how to reform the institutions that just weren’t working very well,” Kiewiet said, which means making the city and county institutions more cohesive.
“The issues with the People Mover, which will probably not ever move a person — it’s certainly symptomatic of fragmentation,” he said. Skylink, a 2.5-mile
Raman will have the opportunity to put her campaign promises to the test as voters approved a two-year budget cycle and more
Raman entered the race hours before the filing deadline after supporting Bass during the mayor’s 2022 election bid. Initially, the similarities between the two appeared more telling than the differences.
“I just spoke with Mayor Bass and expressed my deepest gratitude for her leadership and decades of service,” Raman said in a statement posted on X Thursday after Bass conceded. “Los Angeles would not be the city it is today without her.”
Raman, 45, held a 52% to 48% lead in election results released Wednesday and widened that gap by Thursday morning, according to figures from county elections officials.
Raman added that “the work ahead will be hard, and change will take time; and together, we are going to build a future as extraordinary as the city we call home. Thank you, L.A. Let’s get to work.”
The mayor-elect said on the campaign trail her approach to the city’s infrastructure and capital projects focuses on financial accountability, systematic planning and project delivery.
Her platform calls for hiring dedicated management, including creating a director of public works position, a dedicated director of Vision Zero (to address traffic deaths), and chief financial and chief operating officers.
Raman has heavily criticized delays and cost overruns on major city projects — such as the LAX Automated People Mover. She proposes publishing clear milestones, reporting progress regularly, and holding leadership accountable for deadline changes.
Rooted in her campaign slogan “a city that works,” Raman emphasizes repairing streets, sidewalks, fixing thousands of dark streetlights, addressing illegal dumping, and restoring funding for neighborhood services that she argues suffered due to city budget mismanagement.
She advocates for redesigning city streets to support public transit, expanding protected bike and pedestrian infrastructure, fast-tracking Measure HLA, and using the mayor’s appointments on the Metro board to accelerate construction and housing development over station properties.
