US Midterms 2026
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Nithya Raman, an urban planner and Democrat who has represented Los Angeles's 4th council district since 2020, faces Mayor Karen Bass in the city's 2026 mayoral runoff.
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Nithya Raman.
Recent media coverage for Nithya Raman.
Kerala-born Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman is challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November 3 mayoral runoff, with the two candidates clashing over the city’s homelessness crisis, public safety…
Kerala-born Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman is challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November 3 mayoral runoff, with the two candidates
Kerala-born Nithya Raman is leading incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral race after a fiery televised debate on Tuesday night.
BassPark made the stunning admission while sounding the alarm about the city’s future and blasting mayoral challenger Nithya Raman over her positions on policing and prosecution.
BassWashington: Kerala-born Nithya Raman is emerging as a strong contender to become the first Indian-American mayor of Los Angeles, with the 45-year-old Democratic politician maintaining an edge over incumbent Mayor Karen…
Kerala-born Democratic leader Nithya Raman is leading in Los Angeles mayoral race.
No story this week names this candidate.
Nithya V. Raman was born on July 28, 1981, in Kerala, India, and moved with her family to Louisiana at age six; she became a naturalized U.S. citizen at 22.
She completed a social studies bachelor's at Harvard University in 2003 and an urban planning master's at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008. In India she founded Transparent Chennai, a research organization working on sanitation in Chennai.
After relocating to Los Angeles in 2013, she worked in the office of the city administrative officer, founded and led the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition in 2017, and was executive director of Time's Up Entertainment.
She lives in Silver Lake with her husband, television writer Vali Chandrasekaran, and their twins.
Raman, a Democrat who also belongs to the Democratic Socialists of America, challenged incumbent David Ryu for the 4th district seat on the Los Angeles City Council.
Ryu led the March 2020 primary, and in the November 2020 runoff Raman won with 52.9% of the vote, the first defeat of a sitting councilmember by a challenger in 17 years. She took office in December 2020.
In the March 2024 primary she secured reelection outright with 50.6%, ahead of Deputy City Attorney Ethan Weaver. Between January 28, 2025, and April 14, 2026, she held the post of assistant president pro tempore of the council.
In November 2025 the council adopted her motion limiting yearly rent increases for rent-stabilized units to 4%.
Raman entered the mayoral race on February 7, 2026, hours before the filing deadline, to challenge incumbent Karen Bass, whom she had endorsed weeks earlier. Her campaign centered on housing production, city services and the film industry.
In the nonpartisan top-two primary, Bass placed first; Raman trailed reality television personality Spencer Pratt on election night and moved into second place as later ballots were counted, and by June 8, 2026, observers concluded that she and Bass had advanced.
The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed her on September 2. The runoff takes place on November 3, 2026.
