Nithya Raman | The urban planner

After defeating Karen Bass, the incumbent Mayor of the second most populous city of the U.S., Nithya Raman wrote on X, “Los Angeles, I am deeply honored to be your next mayor.” A member of the city council since 2020, Ms. Raman has a track record of civic activism, advocating for affordable and increased housing. Entering the electoral race at the very last minute, she is now L.A.’s the first South Asian Mayor-elect as well as the first candidate to defeat an incumbent Mayor of the city since 2005.

Born in Keralam, Ms. Raman spent a part of her early childhood between Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. Her father, Venkataraman, used to work for Keltron, and her mother, Sudha, was a former employee of the Indian Overseas Bank. The family migrated to the U.S. when Ms. Raman was six. She graduated from Harvard University in 2003, and then got a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. She became a U.S. citizen at 22.