Indian-Origin Mayors to Lead New York and Los Angeles

The latest Los Angeles County returns showed Raman winning 460,772 votes, or 52.70 per cent, against Bass’s 413,519 votes, or 47.30 per cent. Bass conceded on X, saying she had called Raman to congratulate her and was committed to a smooth transition. Raman thanked voters and praised Bass’s leadership and decades of service, while saying the work ahead would be hard and change would take time.

Raman, born in Thrissur, Kerala, moved to Louisiana at age six and to Los Angeles in 2013. She graduated from Harvard and earned a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Before entering elected office, she worked on homelessness and co-founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. Her campaign focused on city services, affordability and homelessness, including commitments to repair streetlights and make roads pothole-free.

Mamdani, 35, won New York’s mayoral election last year with a campaign focused on affordability and generational change. His proposals included freezing rents and making city buses free for children. He became the city’s first Muslim and Asian-American mayor. President Donald Trump criticized him during the campaign, later calling him a “nice gentleman” after meeting him, and in April accused him on social media of “destroying” New York.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor celebrated Raman’s win on X, calling her “a daughter of Thiruvananthapuram” and saying the two cities would be run by people of Indian origin. Raman’s victory also makes her the first Indian-American elected to lead Los Angeles and the city’s first South Asian mayor.