The Kerala-born, 44 year-old Harvard graduate with a Masters in Urban Planning from MIT, Nithya V. Raman, an immigrant from Kerala, continues to beat the odds from the time she got elected as City Councillor in 2020, in the City of Angels.
In the June 2, 2026, open primaries, she did it again when she bumped up to 2nd place to enter a runoff for Mayor of Los Angeles, against a fellow Democrat and incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
Raman, who is also a Democrat and a proclaimed Democratic Socialist like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, began as an advocate to end homelessness, co-founding SELAH- a Neighborhood Homeless Coalition and began organizing her neighbors to provide direct help, according to her bio on nithyaforthecity.com.
In 2020, 2,000 volunteers knocked on more than 80,000 doors to make Raman’s run for City Council to represent District 4, ended in a victory, and a defeat for a long-term incumbent. The Los Angeles Times described it as “a political earthquake.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Indian Americans are hoping Raman will create another earthquake come November 3 general elections, which if she wins, would make her the Mayor of the second-largest city in the nation.
Some newspaper headlines make it sound like the “earthquake” has already happened –The LA Times headline read – In L.A. mayor’s race, controversial poll shows Nithya Raman ahead of Karen Bass.
“Rising Progressive Star Shakes Up Race for Los Angeles Mayor” proclaimed Deadline.
In a questionnaire that Ballotpedia asks all candidates to answer, Raman says, “I’m running for mayor to make Los Angeles a city that works — not just for the powerful interests, but for all Angelenos.”
When she saw what she said was a gap between what people need and what government actually delivers, she ran against her own representative, she ran against him and defeated him.
“I’ve spent five years on the City Council proving that government can deliver when it has the urgency and accountability to do so — passing some of the strongest tenant protections in the country, cutting rent increases for more than one million Angelenos for the first time in 40 years, and driving a 54% reduction in tents and homeless encampments in my district by moving people into shelter and housing,” she notes.
Her campaign agenda revolves around affordable housing and ending homelessness to make it a ‘city that works’.
As mayor, she said, her commitments to the city are: Make sure Angelenos have a home they can afford; Fix the city: fill the potholes, pave the roads, plant trees, turn on streetlights, and put a park near where you live; Protect Angelenos: from ICE, from harassing landlords, from unsafe streets, from fires and natural disasters. I’ll make sure when you call 911, someone actually shows up; End the pay-to-play politics that have dominated the city for decades. I will not make political decisions. Only the best decisions for Angelenos; and Bring the jobs back. I’ll make it easier to start and run a business. We’ll revive small businesses, support restaurants and bars, and bring the Hollywood jobs back home.
“This victory reflects the growing political power of Indian and South Asian American communities in California, a state with more than 1 million South Asian residents – the largest such population in the country,” noted Indian American Impact, an advocacy organization that has energized the community’s rising political visibility, and endorsed more than 200 candidates around the country.
Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact, commenting on Raman’s victory, called it “a testament to the power of a campaign built on a simple, urgent truth: Los Angeles must be affordable and safe for everyone.”
He went on to claim that voters recognized “Nithya Raman is exactly the leader this city needs. Her vision for a city where working families can afford to stay, immigrants are protected, and no one is left behind has resonated across one of the most diverse electorates in America. As an immigrant herself, Nithya knows firsthand what is at stake for communities like ours.”
Raman’s website says, “Nithya believes Los Angeles is in a moment of crisis that requires urgency, accountability, and ambition, not half-measures and protecting the status quo.”
Nithya lives in Silver Lake with her husband Vali Chandrasekaran, and 10-year old twins.