The Los Angeles mayor’s race got off to a rollicking start as the filing deadline arrived this weekend, with more than three dozen candidates, including one of the city’s best-known progressives, declaring their intent to challenge Mayor Karen Bass.
The mayor, a nationally known Democrat and a former congresswoman who at one point was on President Biden’s vice-presidential short list, won decisively in 2022 when she ran for her liberal hometown’s highest office.
For three years, her approval ratings soared as she led the nation’s second-largest city back from the trauma of the pandemic. Crime rates fell. Business inched back. Sprawling tent camps were removed and their inhabitants were coaxed into shelters.
Then, on Jan. 7, 2025, a wildfire swept through Pacific Palisades, one of the most affluent communities in Los Angeles, and everything changed.
A Quick History
As wind-driven flames leveled the Palisades, killing 12 people and destroying thousands of homes, it became apparent that a city reservoir was empty, and that the Los Angeles County Fire Department had rushed into the fire with far less preparation and personnel than in past disasters. Moreover, the fire had erupted while the mayor was out of the country. Ms. Bass rushed back. But in the hard months that followed, survivors struggled to forgive her.
Only after the Trump administration sent the National Guard into Los Angeles to lend support during a federal immigration crackdown did the mayor’s damaged approval ratings start to rebound. But the cumulative anger has left her weakened. Once regarded as a shoo-in for a second term, Ms. Bass is now expected to face a runoff in the fall.
Who Is Running?
The mayor, who is 72, is seeking her second term. The first woman to be elected to the job, she campaigned on a promise to address homelessness quickly and humanely. At the time, the pandemic was winding down, and tent camps spilled across parks, beaches, sidewalks and suburban driveways.
Ms. Bass, a former physician assistant who got into Los Angeles politics during the 1980s crack epidemic, has said she felt called to serve. Los Angeles has one of the largest homeless populations in the nation, but, on her watch, it has declined for two consecutive years.
Initially, it appeared that outrage over the fire would present Ms. Bass with serious competition. But one contender after another dropped out or elected to stay on the sidelines. As Saturday’s noon filing deadline approached, Ms. Bass’s most significant potential challengers appeared to be Spencer Pratt, a Republican millennial reality television villain who lost his home in the Palisades fire; Adam Miller, a tech executive and a founder of an affordable housing nonprofit; and Rae Huang, a community organizer and a progressive advocate for affordable housing.
Then Nithya Raman, a 44-year-old City Council member, entered the race hours before the filing deadline. A pragmatic progressive aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America, she ousted an incumbent in 2020 in large part by drawing connections between homelessness and the city’s increasingly dire housing crisis. Harnessing the fury of renters in a city where homeowners have traditionally dominated local politics, she drew comparisons to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman, along with a nickname: “The L.A.O.C.”
Ms. Raman, an ally of the mayor — she endorsed Ms. Bass less than two weeks ago — represents less of an ideological contrast to the incumbent than a generational one.
Who Is Not Running?
Austin Beutner, a former Los Angeles school superintendent and a well-known civic leader, pulled out of the race on Thursday, citing the sudden death of his 22-year-old daughter. A former supporter of the mayor and a former investment banker, he had campaigned on promises to stand up to the Trump administration and to focus on quality-of-life issues in Los Angeles.
Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer who lost to Ms. Bass in 2022, said he would not run again, then floated the possibility that he might, then confirmed he would not seek a rematch. Even from the sidelines, though, he has used his significant social media following to raise questions about the mayor’s leadership and policies.
Also a no-go was Lindsey Horvath, a county supervisor whose district includes the Palisades fire zone and who earlier had said she might run.
Why Is the Race So Surprising?
Ms. Raman’s decision to run came as a surprise to nearly everyone in local politics, including, to some extent, Ms. Raman herself. She said on Saturday that she did not make a decision until the 11th hour.
“Like many of you, I was watching and waiting to see what would happen in the mayor’s race, and also to see how the mayor would talk about the challenges that we were facing,” said Ms. Raman, who spoke to reporters after filing paperwork declaring her intent to run.
Ms. Raman and the mayor have been close allies, building a coalition of like-minded progressives. But her entry into the race will force local leaders who otherwise collaborate to pick sides.
She said publicly what other local leaders have been saying as the race has taken shape.
“Mayor Bass is someone I have deep, deep respect for. She and I share so many values about what matters for Los Angeles,” Ms. Raman said. “But I do feel like Angelenos have really given us a lot of faith, voted for more taxes to address affordable housing issues, to address homelessness, to address some of our biggest crises, and if we don’t show results to them, I think that we will lose them.”
What Are the Stakes?
Even with the pandemic largely in the rearview mirror, Los Angeles — a majority minority city of about 4 million people — has its work cut out for it.
Besides homelessness and skyrocketing housing costs, the city is reeling from widespread immigration raids; the contraction of its signature industry, show business; and a politically hostile White House. Pacific Palisades is still a construction zone, with many homes left uninhabitable because of toxic smoke contamination.
The city’s infrastructure is crumbling, with pothole-plagued roads and sidewalks mangled by tree roots, and its budget has been sapped by municipal lawsuits.
It’s also about to receive millions of visitors: This year, Los Angeles will host part of the World Cup. And in two years, it will host the 2028 Olympics, whose chairman, the scion of a wealthy Los Angeles family, has been struggling to explain an awkward correspondence with the convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell that surfaced in the Epstein files.
What’s Next?
The campaigns are likely to heat up in the coming months; Ms. Bass’s campaign adviser on Saturday issued a response to Ms. Raman’s entry into the race, which criticized Ms. Raman’s past votes on homelessness and funding for the Los Angeles Police Department. The mayor herself has repeatedly denied politically toxic accusations that she directed the city Fire Department to tone down a review of the Palisades fire.
The primary election is set for June 2. After that, the top two candidates, regardless of party, will square off in the general election on Nov. 3, unless one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote in June.
Also on the ballot will be re-election bids by roughly half the City Council, which is likely to set up bruising fights over endorsements and support.
Already on Saturday, the endorsement war began.
Hugo Soto-Martinez, a progressive City Council member who has credited Ms. Raman’s grass roots campaign for helping to pave the way for his own campaign two years later, said he would continue to back the mayor.
“While I recognize Nithya’s contributions to the city, I was caught off-guard by her last-minute maneuver, and I continue to strongly support Mayor Bass,” he said in a statement. “Even when we disagree, I’ve never doubted Mayor Bass and her long standing commitment to the community.”
Shawn Hubler is The Times’s Los Angeles bureau chief, reporting on the news, trends and personalities of Southern California.
The post Here’s What To Know About the Los Angeles Mayor’s Race appeared first on New York Times.
