LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lost her reelection bid to City Councilmember Nithya Raman after several political allies who backed her in 2022 turned against her this year, citing her handling of homelessness, the city budget and the January 2025 Palisades fire.
County election results as of Sunday, Nov. 8, showed Raman with 599,833 votes, or 54.66%, to Bass’s 497,586 votes, or 45.34%, in the Nov. 3 general election. Bass conceded Thursday, Nov. 5, saying in a statement that “the people of Los Angeles have spoken.”
Bass said she had called Raman to congratulate her and had committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Raman is expected to take office Dec. 14.
Bass spent much of her campaign pointing to her ability to work with others, and she held the support of 14 City Council members, developer Rick Caruso, the Los Angeles Police Protective League and Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez. Several people and groups who helped her win four years ago, however, worked or voted against her this time.
Concession and transition
In the same statement, Bass said the result was “not the outcome we hoped for.” Raman said she was grateful for the trust Angelenos placed in her and that the two had committed to working together on the smoothest possible transition.
Raman listed affordable homes, transit, parks and a capable city government as her priorities. Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said he congratulated the mayor-elect and looked forward to working with her administration.
On the last day of the campaign, the mayor’s office posted a statement on Nov. 2 about a Trump administration Supreme Court filing in the California ballot case. Bass characterized the filing as an attempt to scare people into staying home.
Strategist moves from Bass to Raman
Political consultant Estevan Montemayor, 35, worked in 2022 with Communities United for Bass, a campaign committee that spent $6 million on television ads, text messages and other voter outreach. This year he took on an outside campaign supporting Raman and opposing Bass.
Montemayor said he became disenchanted with the mayor over homelessness, the city budget and finally the Palisades fire. “That’s when I came to realize on a personal level that she was not capable of serving in an executive role,” he said.
Carpenters cite Executive Directive 1
The Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, which backed Bass in 2022, spent far more to oppose her this year, according to initial reports that put its spending at about $2.3 million for Bass in 2022 and about $11.5 million for Raman in 2026. The union also launched a website called “Burned by Bass.”
The union’s objections centered on Executive Directive 1, which Bass signed Dec. 16, 2022. According to the Mayor’s Office announcement of the directive, it was meant to speed approval of 100% affordable housing projects, with city approval within 60 days and permit, utility and certificate-of-occupancy steps completed in five days.
The Carpenters later criticized the directive for lacking labor standards. Pete Rodriguez of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters cited unpaid wages, cash pay, unlicensed contractors, labor brokers and nonpayment on projects.
Bass said in a memo that she was prepared to support labor standards for qualifying 100% affordable projects as the City Council considered making the program permanent.
Unite Here Local 11 and the wage delay
Unite Here Local 11, the hotel and hospitality workers union, endorsed Raman in August. Co-president Kurt Petersen pointed to the mayor’s role in a rollback of the $30 hotel and airport minimum wage. “She signed the law that took money out of people’s paychecks,” he said.
The City Council voted May 26 to delay the wage increase by 18 months, to January 2030, after business groups withdrew a ballot measure that would have repealed the city’s gross receipts tax. Bass said the agreement ensured “workers are paid fairly” and that businesses that create jobs could keep serving Los Angeles and hiring Angelenos.
The union knocked on 200,000 doors for Estamos Con Nithya, a committee supporting Raman.
Bass spokesperson Alex Stack said the mayor sat down with the Carpenters and Unite Here, listened and made decisions that benefited Los Angeles rather than one group. “Nobody got everything they wanted,” Stack said.
Horvath endorses Raman
County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath endorsed Raman on Oct. 20, about two weeks before the election, and was the only member of the Board of Supervisors to do so. She criticized Bass over the Palisades fire, the Lineage warehouse fire and entertainment industry jobs, saying, “Enough of the excuses. Enough of blaming everyone else. Enough of the Basslighting.”
Horvath said after the election that the result did not surprise her because “people are hungry for change.” Of her own dealings with the mayor, she said she put forward her best effort to build a relationship and that it was not one issue.
The Lineage Logistics cold-storage fire at 1400 S. Los Palos St. in Boyle Heights began shortly after 2:30 p.m. one day in June, and residents later complained of lingering smells.
Bass said she had no reason to see Raman’s challenge coming. “Why would I see it coming if somebody has publicly endorsed me?” she said of the dynamics that preceded Raman’s entry into the race.
County takes over homeless services
Homelessness was a recurring complaint among Bass’s former allies, and the county and city moved in different directions on how to address it. On April 1, 2025, the Board of Supervisors approved, in a 4-0-1 vote, a motion by Horvath and Chair Kathryn Barger to consolidate homeless services into one county department.
The motion brought functions performed by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority back under the direct oversight of the Board. Full integration of the authority’s staff and funding was targeted for July 1, 2026. The new department is modeled on the county’s Housing for Health program, which has a 37% housing placement rate.
Horvath said at the time that the change was not about making the system bigger but about making it work better.
Homeless count shows a stall
The authority’s 2026 count, released July 24, found that “regional progress stalled” after two consecutive years of declines. It estimated 73,040 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, a 1.2% increase, and 45,194 in the City of Los Angeles, a 3.4% increase.
The count also showed unsheltered homelessness rising 3.3% in the county, to an estimated 49,002 people, and 7.9% in the city, to an estimated 29,115 people.
Palisades fire reviews
Bass left the country shortly before the Jan. 7, 2025, Palisades fire began and has said she regretted the trip. Tensions later arose between Horvath’s office and the mayor’s team over coordination, according to initial reports.
The January 2025 wildfires killed 31 people and destroyed 16,251 properties in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, along with parts of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and Malibu, according to the County of Los Angeles. An independent review by the McChrystal Group, commissioned by the Board of Supervisors, found no single point of failure in the county’s alert and evacuation response.
The review instead found “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communications vulnerabilities” that hampered the county’s response.
The Los Angeles Fire Department released its own After-Action Review Report on the first 36 hours of its response to the Palisades fire on Oct. 9, 2025. Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva said the report aims to provide greater clarity and accountability, and the department listed new processes adopted since January 2025, including improved pre-deployment protocols.
Loyalists weigh the loss
Gonzalez, who backed Bass, said the bigger loss for the mayor was losing the trust of her voters. Stuart Waldman of the Los Angeles County Business Federation, who also supported Bass, said proposals she backed would end up in her staff’s hands and never see the light of day.
Those comments are the views of individual supporters and do not establish why voters chose Raman.
Raman is expected to take office Dec. 14
County results continued to be updated after election night. Raman led 52.70% to 47.30% in the count reported Thursday, and her lead widened to 54.66% to 45.34% in the county’s Nov. 8 report.
Raman is expected to take office Dec. 14, and Bass has committed to a smooth transition until then.
