Mayor-elect Nithya Raman bid farewell to the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday, vowing to work with colleagues who snubbed her campaign — even if things get a little “spicy” — after her stunning election victory over Karen Bass.
“Just because I’m down the hall doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget how to do that work,” Raman told her colleagues during a council 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.”
The 45-year-old former urban planner reflected on six years in office during an emotional speech from the council floor, pledging to put political differences aside when she becomes mayor on December 14.
Raman will remain on the council until midnight the morning December 13, when her District 4 seat becomes vacant.
Her departure will trigger another political battle at City Hall over who will replace her, but Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson told the California Post 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, pointing to the council’s upcoming recess.
Raman’s political ascent comes after she pulled off one of the city’s biggest election upsets in decades, defeating Bass despite entering the race at the last minute and failing to secure a single endorsement from her 14 council colleagues.
Her lead has ballooned to 104,240 votes, with Raman capturing 603,631 votes, or 54.7%, compared with Bass’ 499,391 votes, or 45.3%, according to Monday’s election returns.
Yet on Tuesday, Raman extended an olive branch to her colleagues who largely supported 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 told the council.
She promised to visit neighborhoods alongside councilmembers to better understand their constituents’ concerns and help them navigate City Hall 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.
Raman’s rise marks a dramatic political ascent for the former homelessness advocate, who entered City Hall in 2020 after unseating incumbent Councilman David Ryu.
But her bruising mayoral campaign exposed political divisions that could complicate her administration.
Harris-Dawson, a Bass ally who removed Raman from her council homelessness committee leadership position during the campaign, insisted the tensions would not derail their working relationship.
“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.”
He also confirmed he intends to remain council president.
Raman will inherit a city struggling with 45,194 homeless residents, including 29,115 living without shelter, while facing pressure to deliver on her campaign pledge to cut street homelessness in half by the 2028 Olympics.
Raman repeatedly criticized Bass’ signature Inside Safe program over its spending and effectiveness, but on Tuesday indicated that some version of the initiative would continue under her administration as she works to fill vacant shelter beds across the city and develop a plan to deliver on her campaign promise to cut street homelessness in half by the 2028 Olympics.
But her own council record has faced scrutiny.
Raman championed tenant protections and alternatives to traditional policing while repeatedly opposing expansions of Municipal Code 41.18, which restricts encampments in designated public spaces.
A review of council voting records from December 2020 through October 2, 2026, found she missed 2,982 of 21,562 recorded votes, roughly 13.8%.
Raman also enters office with the backing of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose controversial positions on policing, housing and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have fueled political divisions.
Raman also sparked a fierce campaign battle after pledging to replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell before his term expires in 2030, drawing sharp criticism from police union leaders and Bass.
But at a press conference the day after her election victory, Raman declined to provide a timeline for his removal.
Raman said she has not decided whether to move into the mayor’s mansion, Getty House, noting that her twins are entering middle school and she wants to preserve the peace in their neighborhood.
The Post also spoke with members of Raman’s council staff about potential personnel changes as she transitions to the mayor’s office. Staffers said those decisions are still being worked out.
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