LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Progressive city council member Nithya Raman to a November runoff against Los Angeles Mayor , setting up an unexpected matchup between two Democrats and former political allies to run the struggling city of nearly 4 million.
The outcome means , a Republican and former reality television personality from 鈥淭he Hills,鈥� is out of the running. His candidacy had drawn national attention because of his celebrity and willingness to challenge liberal governance in a city dominated by Democrats, but the buzz did not translate into enough votes to make the runoff.
Raman made into the race, after she had endorsed Bass for reelection. She was elected to the council with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the election will test whether voters in the heavily Democratic city want to move further to the political left to address long-running problems of homelessness, buckled streets and sidewalks and climbing rent and home prices.
The race also has historical markers. Bass is the first Black woman to hold the post, and Raman could be the first South Asian woman in the job.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you鈥檒l join our movement to build a city that works for everyone,鈥� Raman said in a statement. “For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services and a city that has stopped working for them.鈥�
鈥淎 campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning,鈥� said Bass campaign strategist Douglas Herman.
Raman gained votes on Pratt in every vote update since Election Day as Los Angeles continued to process additional mail ballots and release results. Raman moved past Pratt and into second place on Sunday and extended her lead over Pratt on Monday to nearly 22,000 votes.
The mayoral matchup sets the field in one of the state’s two marquee races. In the other, the California governor鈥檚 race, Democrat has advanced to the general election but it’s not yet clear if he will face Republican or fellow Democrat . Hilton has more votes than Steyer, but Steyer cut into his lead by nearly a third in Monday鈥檚 vote updates.
The mayoral race was technically nonpartisan, so the candidates appeared on the ballot without party identification next to their names.
The election was not a vote of confidence in Bass, who according to incomplete returns received under 35% of the vote, a vulnerable position for an incumbent.
Bass represents the Democratic establishment as the incumbent mayor, and she鈥檚 backed by Gov. Gavin 太子探花om, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, along with influential labor unions. She served in the state Legislature and Congress before becoming mayor in 2022 and was to be former President Joe Biden鈥檚 running mate in 2020.
Raman 鈥� in her first run for citywide office 鈥� has promised to speed up housing construction, bring back entertainment industry jobs and improve services in a city known for dirty streets, gridlock and homeless encampments that are commonplace in many neighborhoods.
鈥淲hat we are doing right now is just not working,鈥� Raman says. 鈥淟A鈥檚 primary strategy for homelessness has been to move encampments from one block to another, from your block to your neighbor鈥檚 block and back again. … It鈥檚 political theater.鈥�
California鈥檚 vote count takes a long time
It took nearly a week to determine who would face Bass in November due to California鈥檚 vote-counting process. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter and they are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days.
Los Angeles, like other counties in California, processes and counts mail ballots in roughly the order they are received, so the last ones returned are the last ones counted.
On Tuesday night after polls closed, Los Angeles released results from mail ballots that had been returned early and already processed as well as votes cast that day. Those votes put Bass in the lead with Pratt running in second and Raman behind in third. Since then, the county has been processing and releasing results from mail ballots that arrived later.
Election data shows that large numbers of Democrats held onto their mail ballots and returned them in the race鈥檚 final days, which helps explain why Bass and Raman have been doing better than Pratt in the votes counted since primary day.
Raman鈥檚 political positions have shifted
Born in India, Raman moved to the United States as a child and earned degrees from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied urban planning.
She has opposed efforts to prohibit homeless people from setting up tents within 500 feet (152 meters) of schools and daycare centers. However, she appears to have softened her opposition to no-camping zones, which were intended to curb the spread of encampments and clear streets. She voted against dozens of them on the council but later said she would not block them if elected mayor.
Raman鈥檚 positions on policing in the city have also changed.
She once talked of a department that would be much smaller and posted 鈥渄efund the police鈥� on social media in 2020. She did not support the mayor鈥檚 2023 police contract, which she said was too expensive for the financially strapped city.
More recently, she said the Los Angeles Police Department should remain at its current size, about 8,600, down from about 10,000 in 2020. The police union has , calling her 鈥淔lip Floppin鈥� Raman.鈥�
In diverse Los Angeles, mayors are elected by building coalitions, ethnically and geographically. And to surpass 50% of the vote and win, Raman will need to find more supporters.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 impossible, but she is going to have to expand beyond her ideological base,鈥� said Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who sees Bass as vulnerable.
鈥淭he people who didn鈥檛 vote for Nithya weren鈥檛 voting against her, they were voting for somebody else. Karen (Bass) had a good number of people who were voting against her,鈥� Carrick added.
Though Raman and Pratt are political opposites, both have attracted voters who aren鈥檛 happy with the city鈥檚 status quo.
Tanika Vickers, who works for a housing nonprofit in Los Angeles, said that she felt like she was part of a group of people who work and pay taxes but have been 鈥渇orgotten.鈥� She said she was frustrated with the way tax dollars were being spent, especially 鈥渢hrowing鈥� more money toward homelessness without results.
She said she voted Raman for mayor because she was most qualified to execute her plans and fulfill what the city needs.
鈥淚 think that we are all looking for change,鈥� she said.
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Associated Press journalists Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed.
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