You might not have thought Los Angeles could get any worse, but boy, do Californians have a way of surprising the rest of the country.
Democratic socialist and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, herself a progressive Democrat, in the city’s mayoral race. Raman had polled only slightly ahead early on, but she is projected to win with 77 percent of the vote counted, leading Bass 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent. The two are separated by roughly 25,000 votes out of about 800,000 counted as of Wednesday night.
Decision Desk HQ projects Nithya Raman wins the CA Los Angeles Mayor Nonpartisan General Election #DecisionMade: 7:49 PM EST Follow live results here: https://t.co/1kpbRZUYUv https://t.co/LHwjhhfjjz
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 5, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: Dues-paying Socialist Nithya Raman has DEFEATED Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral election, per DDHQ If LA had fair elections, we'd be celebrating @spencerpratt as the winner tonight. But instead, the city of homelessness and fraud will have an even WORSE mayor https://t.co/7KuQxZXV3G
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 5, 2026
This is a shocking turnaround for a candidate who initially appeared to have been knocked out of the June primary, when Republican Spencer Pratt took an early lead before ultimately finishing behind both Raman and Bass.
Nithya Raman walked out to her campaign funeral in literal tears last night She can't hide her disappointment at the red wave that showed out in LA Mayoral race Angelenos are taking their city back from the grip of incompetence. https://t.co/8q1ybdgQmG
— Danny De Urbina (@dannydeurbina) June 3, 2026
The Republican has not yet responded to Raman’s victory, though he can be expected to.
Her win comes amid a broader socialist sweep that has gone underreported beneath the blue tsunami that rocked the country on Tuesday. The movement’s electoral gains were evident well before Election Day. Not only will a DSA-backed mayor lead Los Angeles, but six Mamdani allies were all but guaranteed to win their congressional races: Darializa Avila Chevalier, Claire Valdez, and Brad Lander in New York; Melat Kiros in Colorado; Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania; and Donavan McKinney in Michigan.
Each is either endorsed by or formally a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Their victories double the number of DSA-backed representatives in Congress, and that expansion was poised to happen regardless of how Republicans performed on Tuesday.
Although I would prefer not to be the bearer of bad news, the overwhelming Democratic victory should signal that their presence is only going to grow across the country. Over the next two years, we will see what they have planned for the Democrat Party writ large.