(The Center Square)–Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman are in a near tie in the mayoral race.
Results from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk show Bass with 292,876 votes or 50.86% compared to Raman’s 282,935 or 49.14%. That was as of 10 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday.
“This is a critical day in our city, but it is a critical day in our country,” Bass told supporters Tuesday. “We have taken back the House, the Senate, Hakeem Jeffries is getting ready to be the speaker of the House. The country has spoken, and the city is speaking now!”
Bass was a member of the U.S. House prior to running for mayor in 2022. She was also speaker of the California Assembly.
Bass and Raman are two Democrats who have been critical of each other. Bass claimed in an October debate that Raman has a constituent problem and is therefore unfit to be mayor.
“Now is not the time to turn the city over to Nithya Raman,” said Bass.
TV commercials criticized Raman for what they called her stance that it’s OK for homeless encampments to be close to schools.
Just before Election Day, billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso announced that he would be voting for Bass.
Caruso lost to Bass in the 2022 election. He said he preferred Bass over Raman, who was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America.
“This is no time to turn the LAPD into a laboratory for risky DSA social experimentation, as Raman threatened to do,” said Caruso, a Democrat who is frequently described as a centrist.
Raman said Bass was undeserving of another term in office. Raman blasted Bass for being absent during the 2025 fires and for not delivering on housing and homelessness. Bass was in Ghana for a presidential inauguration when the devastating Palisades Fire erupted.
“We cannot afford another four years of decline, of mismanagement, of excuses,” Raman said during an October debate.
Raman advanced to the general election after a surge of mail-in ballots following the June primary. That helped Raman leapfrog Republican Spencer Pratt, who appeared at that time to be moving toward a one-on-one race against Bass.
In other election news, voters in nearby Culver City appeared to be rejecting a measure that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections and school board races.
There are 5,882 “no” votes, good enough for 55.59% compared to 4,699 yes votes or 44.41%.
