City Councilwoman Nithya Raman has been projected as the winner of the Los Angeles mayoral race, defeating incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. Decision Desk HQ issued the projection Wednesday evening.

The call placed Raman ahead after a closely watched count that continued well beyond Election Night. Her advantage emerged as Los Angeles County officials processed additional ballots.

Los Angeles just Elected Nithya Raman, a dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, to be their next Mayor.

Raman oversaw all fraud as the chair of the homelessness committee and despite having a $1 billion budget, homelessness rose. She is directly responsible for funneling your tax dollars to scammers and voted more than 60 times against no-camping zones for homeless encampments. She has called to defund the police, voted against hiring 170 more LAPD officers and now she reportedly plans to fire the LAPD chief. She also vowed to audit LAPD’s policies to ensure they follow Los Angeles’ sanctuary city ordinance to protect illegal aliens. The LAPD union is warning of "Armageddon" when she enters office. The Socialist takeover of America's cities is here. God help Los Angeles — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 5, 2026

According to the latest available tallies, Raman received 405,193 votes. That gave her 51.67% of the vote in the mayoral contest.

Bass stood at 379,069 votes, representing 48.33% of the ballots counted. The incumbent mayor trailed Raman by 26,124 votes.

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That margin amounted to approximately 3.3 percentage points. Roughly 784,000 votes had been tabulated when the latest figures were reported.

An estimated 67% to 72% of the expected ballots had been counted. The projection therefore arrived with Los Angeles County officials still working through the remaining vote.

Decision Desk HQ made its projection roughly 24 hours after polls closed on November 3. The extended count followed a race that shifted as new batches of ballots were processed.

County officials continued counting remaining mail and provisional ballots after the projection. Official certification was not expected until later this month.

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Bass had led during the early returns on Election Night. Her initial advantage was about 1.5 to 2 points, according to the reported results.

That gap narrowed overnight as officials added more ballots to the total. Raman moved ahead shortly after midnight and continued expanding her lead through Wednesday’s updates.

Analysts noted that later arriving ballots in Los Angeles often favor younger and more progressive voters. That pattern was consistent with the support base behind Raman’s candidacy.

The November contest followed a June 2 nonpartisan primary in which no candidate secured a majority. That outcome forced the mayoral election into a runoff between Bass and Raman.

Bass finished first in the competitive primary field of three leading candidates. She received 292,593 votes, equal to 34.3% of the primary vote.

Raman finished second with 247,781 votes, or 29.0%. Her placement gave her the second runoff position despite initially trailing another contender.

Spencer Pratt finished in third place with 217,977 votes. His total represented 25.5% of the primary ballots.

Raman had trailed Pratt in the first batch of primary returns. She later passed him as additional ballots were counted during the days following the primary.

Several other candidates also competed in that June contest. However, Bass, Raman, and Pratt accounted for the large majority of the primary vote.

Raman was first elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020. She entered the mayoral race after previously endorsing Bass, the incumbent she has now been projected to defeat.

Her mayoral bid received support from the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. That endorsement placed one of the city’s prominent far-left organizations squarely behind Raman’s campaign.

Raman campaigned on proposed changes involving city management and homelessness spending. Her platform also included a number of far-left priorities.

The final count and official certification remained pending after Decision Desk HQ made its call. Still, the projected result put Raman 26,124 votes ahead of Bass as county officials continued processing outstanding ballots.

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