Los Angeles elects socialist Nithya Raman to be next mayor

L.A. mayor-elect Nithya Raman.

Nithway Raman was declared the winner of the election for Los Angeles mayor on Thursday with her opponent, Karen Bass, conceding the race. Raman unseated Bass, the incumbent, capturing 52% of the vote to Bass' 48% with more than three-quarters of the votes counted, The Los Angeles Times reported. 

The nation's two largest cities -- New York and L.A. -- will now be led by socialists when Raman takes office next month.

"Los Angeles, I'm deeply honored to be your next mayor," the 45-year-old Raman said in a video posted on YouTube. "I also wanted to pay tribute to Mayor Karen Bass, someone who has given decades of her life to making this city what it is today."

"While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken," Bass, 73, said in a statement. "I have called Councilmember Nithya Raman to congratulate her on her victory, and I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us."

Raman, who was backed by the Los Angeles chapter of the DSA, barely made it to the Nov. 3 runoff after she was trailing both Bass and upstart candidate Spencer Pratt in the June primary. Pratt enjoyed an early lead over Raman, but more than a week after Election Day, Raman was declared the the second-place finisher, bolstered by mail-in votes, allowing her to advance to the runoff against Bass. 

Pratt, who became a sensation with conservatives during his ascendent primary campaign, fueled by his experience as a survivor of the L.A. wildfires, slammed both candidates on Thursday. “Nithya didn’t win,” he wrote in a scathing X post. “Karen lost. You simply can’t destroy a city as much as she did. She played with fire, and she got fired. This wasn’t an election," Pratt added. "It was a humiliation ritual.”

Raman has supported some of the most extreme far left positions, including calling to "defund the police," and allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections. In addition to New York and L.A. being run by socialists, Washington, D.C., also elected a socialist mayor on Tuesday.