Who is Nithya Raman? How did she win LA Mayor?
Nithya Raman, 45, a Harvard and MIT-trained urban planner born in Kerala, India, is projected to become the 44th mayor of Los Angeles and the city's first Asian-American mayor, defeating incumbent Karen Bass by roughly 3 points after a campaign built around housing, homelessness, public safety and Bass's handling of the 2025 Palisades Fire wildfire.
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Quick facts
- Born: July 28, 1981 (age 45), Kerala, India
- Full name: Nithya V. Raman
- Known for: LA City Council District 4 (2020–present); projected 44th mayor of Los Angeles; democratic socialist; urban planner
- Education: B.A. in Social Studies, Harvard University (2003); M.S. in Urban Planning, MIT (2008)
- Party: Democrat; member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
- Spouse: Vali Chandrasekaran, television screenwriter; twin children, Karna and Kaveri
- Career before politics: Founded Transparent Chennai, a research and urban data firm in India; worked for the City of Los Angeles administrative office; executive director of Time's Up Entertainment; founded SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition (2017), a homelessness outreach nonprofit
Her story
Nithya Raman was born in Kerala, India, into a Tamil Iyer family. Her family moved to Louisiana when she was 6 years old, and then settled in Burlington, Massachusetts. She attended Harvard University and earned a bachelor's degree in Social Studies, then went to MIT for a master's degree in urban planning. She became a naturalized American citizen at the age of 22.
She returned to India at 23 and eventually founded the research firm Transparent Chennai, then moved to Los Angeles in 2013 and worked for the city administrative officer. In 2017, she founded and headed SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a homelessness outreach nonprofit in Los Angeles.
Raman was first elected to the City Council in 2020, defeating incumbent councilmember David Ryu. On the council, she chaired the Housing and Homelessness Committee and championed measures including just-cause eviction protections and strengthening the city's rent stabilization ordinance.
How she won
Raman was a late entry to the mayoral race. A former Karen Bass ally, she built her campaign around Bass's handling of several issues: fallout from the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, homelessness, reform of the Los Angeles Police Department, and affordable housing.
Bass faced sharp criticism over the deadly 2025 Palisades Fire, which became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history. Her absence from the country when the fire broke out became a major issue during the campaign.
Raman attacked Bass's signature homelessness program, Inside Safe, which has cost the city over $300 million to house 6,000 Angelenos, 40% of whom returned to the streets. Raman pledged to reduce the number of people living in tents and encampments by at least 50% by 2028, expand street-based medical teams and increase housing options for homeless residents.
Her campaign leaned heavily on her background as an urban planner, and that earned trust with voters concerned about housing policy and utility costs.
She secured endorsements from the Sierra Club, Unite Here Local 11, LA Forward, the Eastside Padres Contra la Privatización and the DSA Los Angeles chapter. The LAPD union, which endorsed Bass and spent millions to oppose Raman, donated $200,000 to the Republican Central Committee of LA County, which then sent out anti-Raman mailers. That spending backfired with many voters.
The race was called with Raman leading by about 26,000 votes, roughly 3%, out of 784,262 votes cast.
Raman is projected to become Los Angeles' first Asian-American mayor and the second woman elected to the highest citywide office. Her victory ends Bass's tenure after four years marked by devastating wildfires, Hollywood job losses and persistent doubts about whether City Hall could deliver on its most basic promises, from reducing homelessness to fixing streetlights and filling potholes.
Follow-ups
Who is Vali Chandrasekaran?Vali Chandrasekaran, 45, is an Indian American television screenwriter and producer best known for his work on Modern Family, 30 Rock and My Name Is Earl, and the man poised to become Los Angeles's first gentleman as the husband of projected mayor-elect Nithya Raman.
Vali Chandrasekaran, 45, is an Indian American television screenwriter and producer best known for his work on Modern Family, 30 Rock and My Name Is Earl, and the man poised to become Los Angeles's first gentleman as the husband of projected mayor-elect Nithya Raman.
Quick facts
- Born: 1981 (age 45)
- Known for: Writer and producer on Modern Family, 30 Rock, My Name Is Earl, American Born Chinese, The Santa Clauses, The Four Seasons; consulting producer on Nobody Wants This; on-screen as himself in The Office
- Education: Harvard University (undergraduate); editor of the Harvard Lampoon, the college's storied humor magazine whose alumni pipeline into Hollywood is well documented
- Early career: Management consultant, Boston Consulting Group, Los Angeles
- Family: Married to Nithya Raman in 2010; twin children (a son and a daughter, age 10), living in Silver Lake, Los Angeles
- Books: The Ridiculous Race (2008), co-written with Steve Hely
- Union: Writers Guild of America West
- Emmy: Emmy-nominated
His story
Chandrasekaran is the son of Indian immigrants who grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, and from an early age he had a clear destination in mind. He and Nithya Raman met in 1999 when they were both undergraduates at Harvard University. He chose Harvard partly because he read in a college guidebook that students who worked at the Harvard Lampoon often went on to careers in Hollywood, and he became an editor there. The two broke up in college, got back together after graduation, and married in 2010.
Chandrasekaran began his professional career outside entertainment, working as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group in Los Angeles, writing spec scripts in his spare time. That landed him an agent and his first TV job. That helped him get an agent and begin his career as a writer on My Name is Earl.
What he built in Hollywood
He worked with Alec Baldwin as a writer and producer on NBC's 30 Rock, and his other TV credits include My Name Is Earl, Trophy Wife, Modern Family and Mixology. He went on to serve as a writer and executive producer on Modern Family, one of the most watched comedies in American television history. More recently, Chandrasekaran is an Indian American writer and producer on the American Born Chinese series on Disney+, where he wrote the second episode of the series. His full credit list also includes The Santa Clauses, The Four Seasons and a consulting producer role on Nobody Wants This.
In 2006, his script Jump for Joy was nominated for a Writers Guild Award. In a memorable turn on-screen, he played the role of "Vali Chandrasekaran" on the NBC hit comedy The Office.
Away from the screen, Steve Hely, a TV writer who worked with Chandrasekaran on the Harvard Lampoon and on 30 Rock, described him as someone who "loves people" and is "a great booster of L.A." The two co-wrote The Ridiculous Race (2008), a nonfiction account of each of them traveling around the world in opposite directions, without airplanes, to see who could get back to Los Angeles first.
The first gentleman question
Chandrasekaran has no official role in Nithya Raman's campaign and does not solicit donations on her behalf. His industry connections have nonetheless brought Hollywood's comedy-writing world into her donor base, with 30 Rock showrunner Tina Fey among those who contributed to the primary. Raman has described him as an essential reality check: "He takes away my blinders and reminds me what the city is looking for."
Chandrasekaran believes his occupation would lead Raman to care even more about Hollywood than past mayors. He has spoken openly about the industry's production exodus from Los Angeles and what it means for working writers: "For like 18 years I made a living working in Los Angeles, shooting in Los Angeles, raising my family in Los Angeles, and very recently I've had to start leaving town for production."
His books
- The Ridiculous Race (2008, co-written with Steve Hely): a nonfiction race around the world in opposite directions, without flying, with bragging rights and a bottle of Scotch as the prize.
The book
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