Can Indian American Nithya Raman Win the Los Angeles Mayoral Election in November? Why Not?

The U.S. today is a troubled, not to mention divided, nation. Some say it’s in decline. But while the mood, in the year of its 250th anniversary, as a noteworthy Fourth of July looms, is somber more than celebratory, the majority of citizens love their country and are grateful to be American. This isn’t a controversial observation. Patriotism, despite the divisions, runs deep. Most people would nevertheless agree that the U.S. is, at least since the 1960s, going through the most disruptive period in their lifetime. Its 10th anniversary in 2026 is also worth mentioning. 

Which brings us to this year’s elections. When Nithya Raman, a Los Angeles City council member, beat reality television star Spencer Pratt in an open primary to advance to the mayoral runoff, the reaction from MAGA was swift, and predictably furious. They thought that Pratt, running as a Republican, had a good shot at becoming the mayor of Los Angeles. Why? Because, as we know, “Heads I win—tails you lose” is the mantra of right-wing conspiracy theorists who have hijacked the MAGA sphere, where Democrats are seen not as opponents but as enemies. 

Admittedly, the peculiar nature of California’s open primary didn’t make things easier. There are no separate ballots for the major parties. All candidates appear on the same ballot, and regardless of how well they do, the top two contenders face a runoff. In the mayoral primary, Pratt, after being in second place, fell behind Nithya Raman as more ballots were counted. The current mayor Karen Bass and Raman have made it to the November runoff. Both are Democrats, and Raman—like New York mayor Zohran Mamdani—is also a progressive and a democratic socialist. Los Angeles is the nation’s second largest city after New York.  

California’s drawn-out primary (the results will be certified in early July, a month after Election Day) added to the baseless speculation. That was because of Spratt’s initial momentum, fueled by voter discontent and, more crucially, his celebrity status and viral videos. The slow counting of ballots is no doubt concerning, given the highly partisan environment. All kinds of falsehoods are amplified on the airwaves and online, reaching millions of people.   

But it’s a fact that every eligible voter in California receives a mail-in ballot, which should be postmarked no later than Election Day. It’s also true that ballots can arrive up to a week later, causing tallying delays in this heavily populated state. Many younger mail-in voters, trying to decide between Bass and Raman, a late entrant in the race, seemed to have waited till the last day. That doesn’t mean there was cheating! The charge is slanderous.  

The surge that helped Raman dislodge Pratt from second place is hardly surprising. Not only are Democrats much more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, but 51% of registered voters in Los Angeles County are Democrats. It is 18.7% for Republicans. Statewide, 45% of registered voters are Democrats, with Republicans accounting for just 25%. Fraudulent vote casters and nefarious vote counters exist only in the fervid imagination of MAGA Republicans. 

There’s hope for Raman, whose youthful and enthusiastic supporters have energized her campaign. As the mayoral race in Washington, D.C., and polling also show, democratic socialists are making inroads.

In an extraordinary NBC interview that aired a few days after the June primary, President Trump said: “The [2020] election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it’s happening again right now in California. It’s four days and they aren’t even close to coming up with the . . . do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.”

When the interviewer Kristen Welker repeatedly asked him for evidence, Trump could only say: “All I have to do is look. And I listen. I listen to people.” After calling the media and election officials “crooked,” he insulted Welker: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.” For good measure, before abruptly ending the interview and walking out, Trump added: “There’s more evidence than ever presented. We’re like a Third World country.” 

Vice President JD Vance, ever the sycophant, told Jesse Waters on Fox News: “The problem here with this whole thing is, how is it that you had, you know, Karen Bass was in first place, Spencer Pratt was in second place, and then this other woman was in third place. You would expect these mail-in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern where, you know—number one would get the most votes, number two would get the second most votes, and so on.”

This other woman? It’s bizarre that Vance, a Yale Law School graduate who is married to an Indian American, used such logic and didn’t bother to refer to Nithya Raman by her name. Then again, we’re already familiar with Trump 2.0’s misinformation, misogyny, and minority-bashing.  

CNN’s Manu Raju, referring to Trump’s accusation, asked for proof of election fraud in the Los Angeles mayoral race. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, responded: “You tell me, Manu. They’re counting votes weeks after the election. We have entire nations with huge populations, like India, that can count their votes in 24 to 48 hours.”

When Raju continued to press him for evidence, Johnson added, in part: “Some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream, it is impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here, and that’s a concern. We need people to believe in the integrity of our election system. It is critical to maintain a constitutional republic.” 

In other words, sowing suspicion is an electoral strategy for MAGA Republicans. There’s no proof of fraud, so they make vague accusations, spout lies, and cast aspersions on voters and election officials. The California primary was a depressing preview of the midterms.     

The Bass-Raman mayoral runoff, being an intraparty race unlike the other high-profile races, will be closely watched. Who is likely to win in November? Bass, the centrist incumbent, has the lead, but her mishandling of the fire crisis and other missteps make her vulnerable. Spencer Pratt had no interest in politics until he lost his Los Angeles home in a fire. So there’s hope for Raman, whose youthful and enthusiastic supporters have energized her campaign. As the mayoral race in Washington, D.C., and polling also show, democratic socialists are making inroads. 

Besides, Raman is well qualified, having earned a bachelor’s degree in political theory from Harvard and a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. Before being elected to the Los Angeles City Council, she founded a homelessness outreach nonprofit called SELAH in her city. Raman, a Tamil-speaking native of Kerala, also founded a research firm called Transport Chennai, and she was the executive director at Time Up’s Entertainment. 

Of course, if Pratt had made it to the runoff instead of Raman, Bass would have no trouble defeating him. As Politiconotes, “the latest Berkeley IGS poll indicated she’d have a double-digit lead over Pratt in a head-to-head matchup. Against Raman the race will be much tighter — the same poll showed the council member with a slight lead over Bass in a two-person race.”

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Murali Kamma is the managing editor of Khabar, an Indian-American magazine based in Atlanta, and a contributor to The Quint. His debut book, “Not Native: Short Stories of Immigrant Life in an In-Between World,” won an Independent Publisher Book Award.