Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman spoke to supporters at her election watch party about an hour after polls closed.
“I’m here because I love Los Angeles with all of my heart. This is the most hopeful, the most resilient, the most complicated, the most creative, the most beautiful city in the entire world,” she said.
She commented on her unorthodox entry into the race against her longtime ally, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, and Spencer Pratt.
“A few months ago, this campaign was a long shot. No one knew who I was; I was the last to enter this race,” Raman said. “We had no institutional backing. But what we did have was a vision for Los Angeles.”
She promised to continue fighting to make Los Angeles a place of opportunity and a place where working people could build a future as well as anyone else.
“A vision where government actually functions and delivers every day on this city’s beautiful, big-hearted values. Where we stand up against ICE, where we show up for our gay and trans siblings. A vision where our neighborhoods are safe, where they’re full of trees, and shade, and alive with activity,” she said.
Raman then went on to note that her vision for LA “threatens some very powerful forces.”
“They came at us with everything that they had. The corporate landlords, the city hall insiders, the corporations, who have spent years making sure city hall worked for them and not for the people,” she said. “These powerful interests spent millions of dollars against this little campaign.”
She said that her team fought back against the “MAGA machine” with “love and hope” and the support of her followers.
“You helped us shape plans and policies for what we can actually build in LA together,” she said. “Tonight may not give us a final answer on this race. Many thousands of votes will be counted on the days ahead, and we may not get an answer we like. But regardless of what happens next, nobody, nobody can take away what we built together.”
