All posts tagged: Raman

Nithya Raman Defeats Spencer Pratt, Will Advance to Runoff Vs. Bass

Nithya Raman Defeats Spencer Pratt, Will Advance to Runoff Vs. Bass

Published by Daniella Wilson

Spencer Pratt, who for a brief dizzying moment went from reality-show afterthought to the potential next mayor of Los Angeles, is back to being the person from that reality show. The Associated Press late Monday afternoon officially called second place for his progressive rival Nithya Raman, after six days of the City Council member steadily gaining ground as more and more ballots were counted. A new batch of votes Monday took Raman’s lead from 3,000 when the day started to more than 21,000 at its close. With just 8 percent, or 65,0000, of ballots outstanding, Raman’s lead was deemed insurmountable, and the AP called it. Raman will now face incumbent mayor Karen Bass in a November runoff in a battle between two onetime Democratic allies who will argue over whether the city needs a steady moderate hand or a new progressive one to combat the many issues facing it. Raman posted to X and Instagram several hours after the election was called, saying she was “incredibly honored that voters have given us the opportunity to …

Progressive Nithya Raman advances to November runoff against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

Progressive Nithya Raman advances to November runoff against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass

Published by Sam Flores

Los Angeles mayoral candidates Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt. Gina Ferazzi | Ronaldo Bolaños | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images Progressive city council member Nithya Raman has advanced to a November runoff against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, setting up an unexpected matchup between two Democrats and former political allies to run the struggling city of nearly 4 million. The outcome means Spencer Pratt, a Republican and former reality television personality from “The Hills,” is out of the running. His candidacy had drawn national attention because of his celebrity and willingness to challenge liberal governance in a city dominated by Democrats, but the buzz did not translate into enough votes to make the runoff. Raman made a last-minute entry into the race, after she had endorsed Bass for reelection. She was elected to the council with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the election will test whether voters in the heavily Democratic city want to move further to the political left to address long-running problems of homelessness, buckled streets and sidewalks and climbing rent and …

Nithya Raman advances over Spencer Pratt to face L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff

Nithya Raman advances over Spencer Pratt to face L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff

Published by Sam Flores

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will face City Council member Nithya Raman in a runoff election for Bass’ job in November, NBC News projects, teeing up a one-on-one matchup between two Democrats. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. Bass and Raman, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, emerged from a crowded all-party primary field that included former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican who ran an insurgent campaign focused on criticizing Bass for her response to the Los Angeles wildfires last year. See election results here. Since no candidate earned more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers go to a runoff this fall. NBC News previously projected Bass would advance to the general election. While Pratt was in second place behind Bass on election night, the successive vote tallies have been more Democratic-leaning, allowing Raman to surpass Pratt. It’s part of a pattern all over California in this primary, with late-counted votes leaning more Democratic after a …

L.A. divided: Bass, Pratt and Raman dominated in different parts of the city

L.A. divided: Bass, Pratt and Raman dominated in different parts of the city

Published by Sam Flores

Mayor Karen Bass ran the table in South Los Angeles, Spencer Pratt found strong support from his Westside base, and Nithya Raman racked up votes in Echo Park and other neighborhoods with a concentration of renters, according to a Times analysis of partial precinct-level results from this week’s primary election. The Times analysis, based on an estimated 62% of the ballots counted so far, found that Pratt was favored in many of the same neighborhoods that voted for mayoral candidate Rick Caruso in 2022, while Raman made inroads in progressive areas dominated by Bass four years ago. Bass found support in neighborhoods along much of the Harbor and Santa Monica freeway corridors, along with central San Fernando Valley communities from Van Nuys to Arleta. With much of the vote left to be counted, a map prepared by The Times showing how neighborhoods voted represents a snapshot of an election still very much underway. Bass garnered enough votes on election night to qualify for a Nov. 3 runoff, the Associated Press determined, but votes are still …

Bass, Raman or Pratt? Three L.A. residents explain who got their vote for mayor

Bass, Raman or Pratt? Three L.A. residents explain who got their vote for mayor

Published by Sam Flores

As the voters deliver their ballots to neighborhood drop-off sites and others wait to vote in person Tuesday, Times reporters fanned out across the city to ask residents whom they planned to support for mayor. Here is a sample of what voters said about their preferred candidate. ‘The other choices were not worth my vote’ Steven Travers57Glassell ParkSelf-employed Voter Steven Travers told The Times that he didn’t feel like there were many options for him in the mayoral election this year, except for the incumbent Karen Bass. Shopping at Vons in Echo Park, Travers said, “Just what I’ve seen of her, and you know, the way she speaks, she seems to be OK.” “I guess she’s done an OK job since she’s been the mayor,” Travers said. “The people she’s running against, I mean, there’s really nobody else that I think I would want to be in that position.” This decision to vote for Bass, despite the wide field of options, came down to how she had handled homelessness in the city and Travers’ neighborhood …

Poll shows Bass, Raman and Pratt in tight race for mayor

Poll shows Bass, Raman and Pratt in tight race for mayor

Published by Sam Flores

Karen Bass, Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt are locked in a tight battle for Los Angeles mayor, according to a poll released Thursday, with incumbent Bass holding what pollsters called a statistically insignificant lead ahead of Tuesday’s primary. Bass had 26% support from likely voters, followed by City Councilmember Raman with 25% support, according to the poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which was co-sponsored by The Times. Pratt, the former reality TV personality making his first bid for elected office, had support from 22% of the likely voters surveyed. Up until this latest poll, Bass had enjoyed a substantial lead over her challengers, with analysts predicting she would garner enough votes to make a Nov. 3 runoff with either Raman or Pratt. The latest survey suggests any of the three could advance. “You’ve got three very different candidates, each with very different constituencies, all within the margin of error. It’s going to boil down to turnout,” said Mark DiCamillo, the director of Berkeley IGS polls. The poll also showed that in …

Raman says she’s running for mayor because L.A. is headed in wrong direction

Raman says she’s running for mayor because L.A. is headed in wrong direction

Published by Sam Flores

Nithya Raman paused when the question came during a debate with Mayor Karen Bass in Sherman Oaks.What does she need to work on, she was asked by the moderator, to improve as a politician? “What I know I need to keep working on is that in order to make sure that your ideas aren’t stopped, you have to invite people in before you try and put them forward,” she said after giving the matter some thought. It was a moment of frank self-reflection for the Los Angeles City Council member hoping to be the next mayor. A graduate of Harvard and MIT, Raman is widely regarded as one of the smartest people in City Hall. She has spearheaded significant legislation during her six years on the City Council, including initiating the city’s Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance in 2021 and leading the push last year to update the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, lowering the annual maximum allowable rent increases. At the same time, she gets poor marks from her council colleagues, her progressive allies and community leaders …

City Council progressives snub Raman, endorse Bass in L.A. mayor’s race

City Council progressives snub Raman, endorse Bass in L.A. mayor’s race

Published by Sam Flores

Three members of the Los Angeles City Council’s progressive bloc are throwing their support to Mayor Karen Bass in her bid for reelection, dealing a blow to challenger Nithya Raman, their progressive ally on the council. The council members endorsing Bass — Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado and Hugo Soto-Martínez — are all members of the Democratic Socialists of America, as is Raman. The four routinely cast dissenting council votes on increased police spending and creation of new anti-encampment zones in the city. Hernandez and Jurado planned to announce their endorsements of Bass on Tuesday, with each citing Bass’ handling of the Trump administration’s immigration raids over the summer and her work to reduce homelessness as significant reasons for their support of the mayor. “When immigrant communities across our city came under attack, Karen Bass stood up and spoke out. She showed real leadership and conviction,” Hernandez, who represents a district running from Pico-Union to Highland Park, said in a statement. Soto-Martínez, who endorsed Bass earlier this year, joined his DSA colleagues with a statement saying …

The record of Nithya Raman, L.A. mayoral candidate, may surprise you

The record of Nithya Raman, L.A. mayoral candidate, may surprise you

Published by Sam Flores

More than five years ago, Nithya Raman made history as the first candidate backed by the Democratic Socialists of America to win a City Council seat in Los Angeles, ushering in a wave of other progressive candidates who pushed the council to the left. Now, her surprising last-minute entry into the L.A. mayor’s race is prompting inevitable comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, another DSA-backed politician who recently was elected mayor of New York City. But Raman’s record as a City Council member hasn’t always aligned with the far left. In fact, her stances on issues such as homelessness, transportation and protecting immigrants from the Trump administration are similar to those of her opponent and former ally, Mayor Karen Bass. As her campaign moves forward, Raman will have to differentiate herself from Bass — as well as address the narrative that she betrayed Bass, who offered an important boost to her reelection campaign in 2024. On housing, Raman has at times angered progressives by aligning with the YIMBY movement, which has pushed for the city to boost …

By running for mayor, Nithya Raman will learn how progressive L.A. really isn’t

By running for mayor, Nithya Raman will learn how progressive L.A. really isn’t

Published by Sam Flores

On the last day of January, hundreds of people filled the pews of Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Koreatown to hear not the word of God but the gospel of the Democratic Socialists of America. It was the local chapter’s bimonthly meeting and also a kickoff event for a year during which they planned to build on an already impressive foothold in L.A. politics. Four of their own are council members and the two up for reelection — Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martínez — received standing ovations after their impassioned speeches. They implored the faithful to believe that anything is politically possible in a year when President Trump is waging war on Los Angeles and one of their own, Zohran Mamdani, is the mayor of New York. Among the true believers was someone who arrived late that day: L.A.’s original democratic socialist insurgent, Nithya Raman. She shocked the city’s political class in 2020 by beating Councilmember David Ryu — the first time in 17 years that an incumbent lost their seat. Her upset blazed the way …