Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath will endorse Nithya Raman’s bid for mayor on Tuesday, giving the City Council member a boost in the battle for votes on the Westside and in the San Fernando Valley.
The endorsement also gives Raman newfound clout in an area where her campaign has struggled: securing support from her fellow elected officials. Thirteen of her council colleagues have endorsed her opponent, Mayor Karen Bass, while a fourteenth — Councilmember Traci Park — said she is voting for the incumbent despite reservations.
Horvath, whose district takes in 2 million people, said Raman will shake up the status quo, bringing a new approach to homelessness, housing affordability, emergency preparedness and other issues.
“It’s been said that she doesn’t have many friends at City Hall, and I know what that feels like,” Horvath told The Times. “When you take on institutional inertia and decades of refusal to change, that kind of shake-up can feel disruptive to people. But I think that’s the kind of leadership people are clamoring for in Los Angeles right now.”
The endorsement could give Raman a new rejoinder to Bass’ assertions that she struggles to work well with other political leaders. It also could give Raman new inroads in parts of Horvath’s district that were strongholds for onetime mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, who placed third in the June 2 primary.
Horvath, who represents large portions of the Westside and Valley, plans to discuss her endorsement during an appearance with Raman on Tuesday. Even with that announcement, Bass will have the lion’s share of political endorsements, including those of the four other county supervisors and county Sheriff Robert Luna.
Horvath was once on friendly terms with Bass, supporting her initial responses to the homelessness crisis and even introducing her at the mayor’s State of the City address in 2024. The two eventually became antagonists, a split that broke into public view in the aftermath of the January 2025 Palisades fire, which destroyed thousands of homes and left 12 people dead.
Horvath, who represents the entire Palisades burn area, sent Bass multiple text messages in the weeks that followed the fire expressing frustration over her handling of communications and other issues.
Later on, Horvath took aim at Bass’ work on homelessness, calling the city’s record “indefensible.”
Bass, in turn, has criticized county officials for pulling more than $300 million out of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority — a move largely spearheaded by Horvath. That money was shifted into a new county agency focused on homelessness.
“Once you create a department, once you create a bureaucracy, it never goes away. And then where’s the incentive to actually end homelessness?” Bass told The Times last month.
Bass wasn’t alone in fighting the county over that issue.
Last year, Bass and Raman co-signed a letter warning the supervisors the county pullout would create a “monumental disruption” in the city’s fight against homelessness. Raman and four other council members also appeared personally before the county supervisors asking them to hold off. The supervisors approved the plan anyway.
Shortly before launching her mayoral bid, Raman also voiced frustration over the county’s handling of mental health services for the city’s homeless residents, and what she described as a lack of data.
Horvath said she and her colleagues have responded to the critiques from Raman and other city leaders by working to improve the system.
“It’s no secret that Nithya and I don’t agree on everything,” she said. “But we do have respect and regard for one another in our respective positions, and a commitment to make sure that the county and city overcome the mistakes and failures of the past.”
Horvath is still one of just a handful of L.A.-area elected officials lining up behind Raman. City Controller Kenneth Mejia and school board member Rocio Rivas have endorsed her, appearing with her at campaign events.
Several former elected officials, including former Councilmember Bernard C. Parks and former City Controller Laura Chick, have also endorsed Raman’s mayoral bid.
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