From Chennai Activist to LA Mayor: Nithya Raman’s Journey to Lead America’s Second Largest City | Today’s news
Nithya Raman, born in Kerala, won the race for mayor of Los Angeles, becoming the first Indian-American elected to lead the city. Incumbent Karen Bass conceded defeat and promised a smooth transition, paving the way for Raman, an urban planner and city council member, to lead America’s second-largest metropolis.
Raman’s victory makes her the city’s first South Asian female mayor. She began her political journey by being elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2020, becoming the first Asian-American woman and the first South Asian elected to the council. She secured another mandate in 2024.
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“Los Angeles, I am deeply honored to be your next mayor,” Raman wrote on X on Nov. 5. Bass said she called Raman to congratulate her.
“Even though it’s not the outcome we were hoping for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said. “I am committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.”
Bass becomes the first Los Angeles mayor in two decades to lose a re-election bid. Her first term was overshadowed by the deadly Palisades fire, which broke out while she was out of the country and caught firefighters off guard.
Read also | Who is Nithya Raman? Indian-American politician, leading Los Angeles mayor
Nithya Raman’s campaign focused on housing and homelessness
Raman’s campaign focused on housing affordability, tackling homelessness and improving municipal services. According to LAist, her promises included better maintenance of street lights and potholes, along with structural reforms to policing.
She entered the mayoral race at the last minute despite initially supporting Bass’ re-election bid. Her decision to file in the final hours before the deadline angered parts of the city’s Democratic establishment, which rallied behind Bass.
People are “dissatisfied” with the “disrupted status quo” in Los Angeles, Raman told AFP ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm vote.
Read also | Los Angeles mayoral election: Nithya Raman surges to second place
“The government of this city has made solving problems seem impossible for so long,” said the Ivy League-educated urban planner. “Hopelessness can be fatal for a city, but this campaign refused to accept that.”
From Chennai civic activism to Los Angeles politics
Born in Thrissur, Kerala to a Tamil Brahmin family who moved to the United States when she was about six, her political views were partly shaped by her work in Chennai.
She returned to India in 2010 after graduating from Harvard and a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Between 2010 and 2013, she headed the Transparent Chennai project under the Center for Development Finance.
Raman and her team mapped public toilets in slum resettlement colonies, documented informal waste pickers and recyclers, and advocated for their inclusion in urban planning. She also co-authored research against the forced relocation of families from Chennai’s waterways, including the Cooum River, to remote resettlement colonies.
Her work included working with civic groups such as Exnora and the Thillai Ganga Nagar Residents’ Welfare Association.
“The collaboration included organizing community forums, mapping local traffic issues and collecting data on public transport, pedestrian safety and civic infrastructure gaps to present actionable data to the Chennai traffic police and city corporations,” said V. Rama Rao, a civic activist.
The former citizen volunteer recalled: “She taught us that data can be used as a weapon.
Raman credited this approach to community activism with her political philosophy, which focuses on using data-driven urban planning to address housing affordability and homelessness.
Indian Americans make gains in US elections
Raman’s victory comes amid broader gains for Indian Americans in US politics. Indian American Impact said her election reflects the growing political influence of South Asian Americans, particularly in California.
The Indian-American community of 5.5 million also saw several candidates win elections across the country. Pia Dandiya of Florida and Dr Amish Shah of Arizona will join Representatives Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Suhas Subramanyam in the US Congress.
Other winners included Ranjeev Puri in Michigan, Aruna Miller in Maryland, Nabeela Syed in Illinois and Pooja Sethi in Texas. Jyot Singh won a seat in the Georgia State House, becoming the first Indian American and the first Sikh American elected to the Georgia State Legislature.
