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The Los Angeles mayoral race was too close to call after voting closed Tuesday night, with Mayor Karen Bass facing challenger Nithya Raman, council member of Los Angeles City Council District 4.
At the time of writing, with 50% of the votes counted, Bass held a narrow lead over Raman, receiving 50.7% of the vote to Raman’s 49.3%.
Bass was fighting to keep his place as Los Angeles mayor against Councilman Raman in Tuesday’s general election, with the mayor hosting an election night party in Hollywood at the Loews Hotel and Raman hosting at the Greek Theatre.
The latest poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found the mayoral candidates neck and neck with 40% of likely LA voters saying they supported Bass, and another 40% supporting challenger Raman. The poll also found that about 20% of Angelenos were still undecided just one week before Election Day.
For the incumbent, the poll will come as a sigh of relief after the September poll
found Raman ahead with an 11-percentage-point lead. Bass had not led a poll since August.
Voting in Los Angeles closed at 8pm, but the final results are not likely to come in until later this week. During the pandemic, California began mailing the ballots of all registered voters, giving all voters the opportunity to mail their ballots. These ballots require much more time to process than personal ballots, often delaying the results.
Bass gathered with supporters at the Loews Hotel in Hollywood during the LA County Democratic Party Election Night. Bass was joined at the event by actress Yvette Nicole Brown; Yvonne Wheeler, first executive vice president of the California Federation of Labor Unions; David Green, president of SEIU 721 and Mark Ramos, chairman of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
“Let me say, it will take a while to count the vote in our town, but very soon we will know. And I am confident with all the work that has been done here … we will win,” Bass told the party attendees. “I believe in the city, and I will fight forever for the city we deserve. Are you with me? Will we win this? Will we [four more years]?”
The crowd responded enthusiastically, answering each of Bass’s calls to action. Elsewhere in her speech, Bass addressed the national midterm election results. In particular, the House and Senate went in favor of the Democrats.
“This is a critical day in our city, but it’s a critical day in our country,” she said. “We’ve taken back the house. We’ve taken back the Senate. Hakeem Jeffries is getting ready to be Speaker of the House. Oh my goodness! You’re talking about change. Now we’ll be able to put the brakes on the White House.”
Raman was across town at the Greek Theater in Los Feliz. She was joined by Dropout star Brennan Lee Mulligan, LA City Administrator Kenneth Mejia and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors member Lindsey Horvath.
At the time of publication, Raman had yet to address the attendees of her event.
Bass asked voters for another four years to continue progress on homelessness, housing, affordability issues, public safety, and other issues, despite her record at the Palisades fires and slow progress ahead of LA28. Her campaign has taken more aggressive tactics in an effort to dissuade voters from electing Raman, who Bass says is “not ready for prime time.”
Raman had previously endorsed Bass but decided to throw her own hat in the ring, entering the race hours before the deadline earlier this year. She is running to “fix a broken city” under Bass. The council member has criticized the current mayor for her attempts at budget-busting deals, including a billion-dollar deal to raise police officer salaries, and a costly effort to renovate the downtown convention center.
Jeremy Fuster contributed reporting to this story.
