• Nithya Raman, 45, is projected to defeat incumbent Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral election, after the latest ballot count on Thursday morning.
  • Raman leads 429,450 votes to 394,796 — 52.1% to 47.9% — with about 76% of ballots counted, according to Los Angeles County figures.
  • Decision Desk HQ called the race on Wednesday evening; NBC News and CNN followed with projections on Thursday.
  • Raman, a democratic socialist city councillor, would become Los Angeles’ first Asian-American mayor and only its second woman mayor.
  • The Associated Press has not yet called the race, and counting continues daily, with certification due later in November.

Nithya Raman is projected to become the next mayor of Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Karen Bass after a dramatic comeback in the vote count that followed Tuesday’s election.

What happened: Raman overtakes Bass as mail ballots are counted

Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman has been projected to win the city’s mayoral race, unseating incumbent Karen Bass in one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 elections. Decision Desk HQ called the race on Wednesday evening, and NBC News and CNN followed with their own projections on Thursday, after the latest batch of ballots widened her lead.

The count swung sharply after polling day. Bass led on election night on Tuesday by 9,941 votes, with 50.84% of the vote to Raman’s 49.16%. But Raman moved ahead overnight as mail ballots were tallied, and by Wednesday night she led 405,193 votes to 379,069 — 51.67% to 48.33% — a margin of 26,124 votes.

Thursday morning’s update from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder stretched the gap further. Raman had 429,450 votes, or 52.1%, against 394,796, or 47.9%, for Bass — a lead of 34,654 votes, with about 76% of ballots counted. The new batch added 39,984 votes to the race, and Raman won 24,257 of them, nearly 61%, while Bass picked up 15,727.

The Associated Press had not called the contest as of the latest reporting, and the result is a projection, not a certified outcome. But with the gap widening in every update, the projection now looks secure.

Why it matters

Raman’s win would make history twice over. The 45-year-old would become Los Angeles’ first Asian-American mayor and only its second woman mayor. Born in Kerala, India, she moved to the United States as a child and built her career as an urban planner before winning a council seat. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and her victory would put a democratic socialist in charge of America’s second-largest city.

It is also a remarkable personal turnaround. Raman entered the race at the last minute, hours before the nomination deadline, despite having publicly endorsed Bass for re-election just weeks earlier. In the June nonpartisan primary, Bass finished first with 34.3% of the vote and Raman second with 29.0%, ahead of former reality television star Spencer Pratt. Few expected the challenger to close the gap, let alone win it.

Bass, 73, will serve only one term if the projection holds. Her time in office was marked by criticism over the city’s response to devastating wildfires, the strain on Hollywood jobs and persistent concerns over homelessness and civic infrastructure. A Berkeley IGS and Los Angeles Times poll in late October found around 40% of likely voters considered reducing homeless encampments a key priority for the next mayor.

The result fits a wider night of firsts in the 2026 elections. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, while in Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor’s race. Raman’s win adds the country’s second-largest city to that list.

What happens next

Counting is not over. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder posts new results daily through 13 November, and the county certifies the result by 27 November. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day still count if they arrive within seven days, so the final margin may move — but the direction of travel has been one way since Tuesday night.

Bass had not conceded as of Wednesday evening, and her campaign declined to comment. If the projection stands, Raman takes office on 14 December 2026, and the focus will turn quickly to the issues that defined the campaign: homelessness, the city’s recovery from the wildfires, and the cost of living in a city where voters made clear they wanted change.

Sources: NBC News (original report, 5 November 2026) and New York Post (independent report, 5 November 2026), with corroboration from TheWrap and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder. Facts verified against the original report and one independent source. Figures are the latest official count as of Thursday morning, 5 November 2026; counting continues and the margin may change. Image is AI-recreated, not the original photograph.