Bass led on Tuesday night. Raman overtook her on Wednesday as more ballots were counted, and she was projected the winner that evening. Analysts had expected late-arriving ballots, particularly from younger voters, to favor Raman. "I'm deeply honored to be your next mayor," Raman said. Bass committed to a smooth transition.

Both are Democrats, and they were once allies. Raman, 45, initially supported Bass's re-election before entering the race in February. Bass, 73, was first elected in 2022, when she defeated Rick Caruso. This is the first time she has lost an election for public office in Los Angeles, Sacramento or Washington, D.C. She took 34% of the vote in the primary earlier this year, and a Berkeley poll had the two tied at 40% each.

The campaign centered on homelessness, affordable housing, policing and the city's response to the 2025 wildfires. Bass drew criticism for being abroad when the January 2025 fires began. The Palisades and Eaton fires killed 12 people. Raman ran on what she called a "broken status quo," pointing to broken streetlights and jagged sidewalks as signs of failed leadership, and she drew on anger over affordability among younger voters. Her campaign said "hopelessness can be fatal for a city, but this campaign refused to accept that." Bass called Raman a political newcomer.

Raman promised to halve street homelessness by the 2028 Summer Olympics and eliminate it by the end of her first four-year term. She described Bass's homelessness program as expensive and ineffective. She also called for replacing Police Chief Jim McDonnell, a move opposed by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, which backed Bass.

Raman's endorsers included Senator Bernie Sanders, the Sierra Club, the hotel and restaurant workers' union Unite Here Local 11 and the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. Bass was backed by Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Raman was born in Kerala, India, in 1981, moved to the United States at 6 and became a citizen at 22. She holds degrees from Harvard University and MIT, and before entering politics she co-founded Transparent Chennai and the SELAH Neighbourhood Homeless Coalition. She won her council seat in 2020 by defeating incumbent David Ryu, and she is described as the first DSA-affiliated member of the council.

Los Angeles, with 3.86 million people, is the second-most populous city in the country. Raman will lead one of three major U.S. cities run by politicians with democratic socialist support, alongside New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Washington, D.C. Mayor Janeese Lewis George. The last Socialist Party candidate to run for Los Angeles mayor was the attorney Job Harriman, in 1911.