Incumbent Karen Bass defeated: Kerala-born Nithya Raman becomes first South Asian Woman to lead LA

WASHINGTON: Kerala-born Nithya Raman has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass to become the first South Asian woman to lead Los Angeles. According to the official Los Angeles County election results, Nithya secured victory with 51.67 per cent of the vote, while Bass earned 48.33 per cent. Although municipal elections in Los Angeles are officially nonpartisan, both candidates belong to the Democratic Party.

Nithya Raman was born in Kerala on July 28, 1981, into a family rooted in Kottakkakam, Thiruvananthapuram. Her grandfather, K. Ramaiyyar, served as a local postmaster. Her father, R. Venkataraman, worked as an engineer at Keltron, and her mother, Sudha, was employed with Indian Overseas Bank.

Nithya spent her early childhood in Kerala, attending Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Thrissur through Class 1. At six years old, she and her mother moved to the United States to join her father, who was pursuing advanced engineering studies. The family eventually built their life in Burlington, Massachusetts.

After graduating from Harvard University in 2003, Nithya spent time working with grassroots organisations supporting disadvantaged communities in India, including projects in Delhi and Chennai. She went on to earn a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2008.

Upon returning to Chennai, she founded Transparent Chennai in 2010—an initiative focused on using mapping and data analytics to help everyday residents access essential civic services. During her time in Chennai, she also pursued training in the classical dance form Bharatanatyam, according to her grand-uncle, Professor T.K. Devanarayanan.

In 2010, Raman married Vali Chandrasekaran, a television screenwriter and producer whom she met during her undergraduate years at Harvard. Today, the couple lives in the Silver Lake neighbourhood of Los Angeles with their twin children, Karna and Kaveri. Her brother, Akash V. Raman, works in the U.S. financial sector.

Before stepping into electoral politics, Raman dedicated much of her work to addressing the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, co-founding the SELAH Neighbourhood Homeless Coalition in 2017. She made her political debut in 2020 when she was elected to the Los Angeles City Council, becoming both the first Asian-American woman and the first South Asian person to serve on the council. Her election as mayor marks the latest milestone in a career defined by public service and urban advocacy.