Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist, has ousted incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, The Associated Press projected Thursday.

With more than 75% of the vote counted, Raman led Bass by more than 4 points.

Raman’s victory comes as an upset: Bass raised double the funds Raman did, according to the most recent campaign finance data available. Bass, who has served as mayor since 2022, has also spent decades in state and national politics, serving six terms in the U.S. House and representing L.A. in the California Assembly, where she served as speaker.

Raman, who worked in nonprofits and housing advocacy, did not hold elected office until 2020, when she was elected to represent Los Angeles’ 4th City Council District. Now she will preside over the city of nearly 4 million as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in 2028 and confronts a crumbling entertainment industry and the affordability and housing crises facing other major cities.

Bass said Thursday that she had conceded to Raman, and thanked Angelenos for making her the first Black woman to lead the city.

“While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said, adding that she committed to “a smooth and seamless transition.”

Raman has not yet publicly addressed her win, and her campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MS NOW.

Like many races across the country in which younger Democrats challenged older incumbents, the election became a referendum on the status quo. Raman, 45, campaigned on bringing change to the city, notably by expanding housing and access to public transportation. Bass, 73, highlighted her experience, including confronting federal immigration agents during President Donald Trump’s deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to the city last year.

Raman faced questions about her lack of allies in City Hall and scrutiny for switching positions on issues such as policing and a so-called mansion tax. She defended those shifts, recently telling MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff that her “willingness to stand up and say that I was wrong” shows leadership.

Bass battled critiques over her handling of homelessness, as well as her response to last year’s deadly Los Angeles wildfires and the fact that she was in Ghana when the blaze broke out.

Raman’s election means the country’s two largest cities — New York and L.A. — will be led by millennial members of the Democratic Socialists of America. Like Raman, 35-year-old New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani beat an establishment Democrat, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in an upset last year.

The L.A. race made national headlines early on due in part to the surprise candidacies of Raman and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who earned the backing of Trump and other national Republicans. Pratt failed to make it to the general election after Bass and Raman clinched the top two spots in June’s open primary.

Pratt conceded the race with a combative message, and has continued attacking Bass and Raman to his millions of social media followers since his primary loss. Pratt did not respond to a request for comment from MS NOW on Thursday about Raman’s win.

Jillian Frankel contributed reporting.

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