City Council member Nithya Raman has defeated incumbent Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral race, Jattvibe News projected Thursday, capping off a rapid political ascent for a progressive challenger who railed against the “broken status quo” in the country’s second-largest metropolis.Raman, 45, who is part of the Democratic Socialists of America, unseated Bass, a former six-term congresswoman and a fixture of California’s political scene for decades. The result means the country’s two largest cities will be led by democratic socialists, with Raman joining New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.Nithya Raman speaks to supporters in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 4.Jackson Tammariello / Zuma via Reuters“This city has given me and my family so much,” Raman told supporters Thursday night at the Original Farmers Market, a Los Angeles landmark.Raman, who was born in India, described Los Angeles as a welcoming city that stands in contrast to what she views as the Trump administration’s hostility to immigration.“The idea that Angelenos voted for an immigrant to be their next mayor at this moment in American history is so deeply moving to me,” Raman said.Bass leaves office after a tumultuous term. She faced intense scrutiny over her response to a January 2025 wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. The blaze erupted while she was in the West African nation of Ghana attending a presidential inauguration. It went on to destroy thousands of homes and kill 12 people.Follow live updates on the midterm elections.Raman, a former urban planner and activist, accused Bass of mismanaging the city’s homelessness problem and rising housing prices. She blasted City Hall for what she characterized as “a reluctance to move forward with the transformative policy change that this city needs right now.”Bass, for her part, argued Raman was “not ready for primetime” after six years on the City Council.Karen Bass in Elysian Park in Los Angeles.Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via GettyThe two Democrats also differed sharply on Israel’s war in Gaza, highlighting a generational split in the party. Speaking at a September forum co-hosted by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, Raman said she agreed with left-wing influencer Hasan Piker that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians; Bass rejected that label.Raman’s candidacy drew comparisons to that of Mamdani, whose campaign rallied New York City voters dissatisfied with the political old guard. Raman touted her progressive bona fides while stressing her “independence” from the Democratic Socialists of America.Bass called Raman to congratulate her Thursday, and both women said they were committed to a smooth transition.“Serving as your mayor has been the honor of my life,” Bass said in a statement Thursday.The incoming mayor’s agenda will be defined in part by the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, a complex undertaking that will test the city’s physical infrastructure, public transportation services and security systems.Raman endorsed Bass at the beginning of the year before she launched a last-minute bid of her own. Bass and Raman took the top two spots in a June 2 primary contest, advancing to a runoff over populist insurgent Spencer Pratt, a former reality television star who blasted the city’s political establishment with provocative social media videos.On the City Council, Raman represents a district that ranges from the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains. She moved to the U.S. with her family as a child, later attending Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.“I want to tell every single Angeleno out there: I am going to work so hard, and everyone behind me is going to work so hard, to earn your trust,” Raman said Thursday. She pledged to “make people believe in Los Angeles again, to make people believe in its City Hall again.”