Mayor-elect Nithya Raman said goodbye to the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday, promising to work with colleagues who declined to support her campaign — even if their relationship occasionally gets “spicy” — following her stunning upset of Karen Bass.
“Just because I’m down the hall doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget how to do that work,” Raman told councilmembers during the meeting. “And so I’m here to be spicy with you and to get through it and to find the outcome that works for all of us.”
In an emotional address from the council floor, the 45-year-old former urban planner reflected on her six years in office and pledged to set aside political differences when she takes over as mayor on December 14.
Raman will remain on the council until midnight on the morning of December 13, when her District 4 seat officially becomes vacant.
Her departure is expected to ignite a new political contest at City Hall over her successor. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson told the California Post, however, that a decision is unlikely for at least a month.
“Nothing will get decided, at least until the mayor-elect vacates her seat and becomes mayor,” Harris-Dawson told The Post, citing the council’s approaching recess.
Raman’s rise follows one of Los Angeles’ most dramatic election upsets in decades. She entered the mayoral race at the last minute and won despite failing to receive an endorsement from any of the 14 councilmembers.
Her margin had grown to 104,240 votes as of Monday’s returns. Raman received 603,631 votes, or 54.7%, compared with Bass’ 499,391 votes, or 45.3%.
Despite the campaign’s deep divisions, Raman used Tuesday’s meeting to extend an olive branch to colleagues who had largely backed her opponent.
“We all came to this from different pathways and from different perspectives, but we are all here because we love LA and we wanna make it better,” she said.
Raman said she would visit neighborhoods with councilmembers, listen to their constituents’ concerns and help them work through City Hall’s bureaucracy.
“In me, you will have something that not every mayor has, a partner who understands what it means to be a council member,” Raman told them.
Her ascent represents a remarkable leap for the former homelessness advocate, who entered City Hall in 2020 after defeating incumbent Councilman David Ryu.
Yet the hard-fought mayoral campaign also exposed divisions that could pose challenges for her administration.
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Harris-Dawson, a Bass supporter who removed Raman from her leadership role on the council’s homelessness committee during the campaign, said their political differences would not damage their ability to govern together.
“That campaign was nine months. We’ve worked together for six years,” he said. “I don’t have any doubt, and I don’t think she has any doubt that we’re gonna be able to work together.”
Harris-Dawson also said he plans to remain council president.
Raman will take office as Los Angeles confronts a homeless population of 45,194 people, including 29,115 who are living without shelter. She will also face pressure to fulfill her campaign promise of cutting street homelessness in half before the 2028 Olympics.
Raman repeatedly attacked Bass’ signature Inside Safe program, questioning its cost and effectiveness. On Tuesday, however, she indicated that some version of the initiative would continue as her administration seeks to fill vacant shelter beds and develop a strategy for reducing street homelessness by half ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
Her own record on the council has also come under scrutiny.
Raman advocated for tenant protections and alternatives to traditional policing while frequently opposing efforts to expand Municipal Code 41.18, which limits encampments in designated public spaces.
A review of council voting records from December 2020 through October 2, 2026, found that Raman missed 2,982 of 21,562 recorded votes, or approximately 13.8%.
She is also entering the mayor’s office with support from the Democratic Socialists of America, whose positions on policing, housing and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have contributed to political tensions.
Raman further intensified the campaign by pledging to replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell before his term ends in 2030, prompting strong criticism from police union leaders and Bass.
At a news conference the day after her victory, however, Raman declined to say when she might seek McDonnell’s removal.
Raman has not decided whether she will move into the mayor’s official residence, Getty House. She said her twins are entering middle school and that she wants to maintain stability in their neighborhood.
The Post also spoke with members of Raman’s council staff about possible personnel changes as she moves into the mayor’s office. Staffers said those decisions remain under discussion.
