Nithya Raman kicks off LA mayoral runoff push at North Hollywood volunteer event
Nithya Raman kicks off runoff push at event
Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman thanked supporters after advancing to a November mayoral runoff against incumbent Karen Bass.
Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman thanked supporters Saturday after finishing second in the city’s mayoral primary, setting up a November runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
The event in North Hollywood was billed as a thank-you to volunteers, but it also marked the start of a more difficult campaign.
Raman must now turn a grassroots operation that helped her survive a crowded primary field into a citywide campaign against a sitting mayor.
"In April and May alone, volunteers knocked on almost 30,000 doors and made 100,000 phone calls," Raman told supporters. "Our margin of victory, by the way, was 29,000 votes. You do the math. You did that."
According to analysis from Political Data Inc., Raman ran strongest on the Eastside, with her best showing in Council District 13, which includes Echo Park, Hollywood and Atwater Village. She received about 45% of the vote there.
Bass performed strongest in South Los Angeles, while Spencer Pratt, the former reality television personality who finished third, ran strongest in the West Valley and parts of the Westside.
Raman said she now needs to make a direct appeal to voters who supported Pratt without adopting his confrontational style.
"I'm hopeful that they'll see me as a change candidate," Raman said. "I think Spencer Pratt, although I don't think he was the right candidate for Los Angeles right now, tapped into real frustrations with the way that things are going. I want to go out there and tell these voters that if they want change, they need to vote for change."
Pratt released a video Friday that began like a concession speech but quickly shifted into an attack on both Bass and Raman.
In the video, Pratt suggested he had recordings that could force either candidate to resign and said his fight was not over.
Raman declined to engage with the threats.
"I think it was a very odd concession speech, like no other concession speech I've ever seen," Raman said. "My focus is really on the general election."
Political observers say Bass now faces pressure to hold her base while answering voters who want more progress on issues such as homelessness, housing and public safety.
Raman, meanwhile, has to expand beyond the voters who carried her into the runoff.
"Nithya Raman has a job of expanding what is her base," said Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc. "She needs to break out and get more of the voters who are regular or high-propensity voters, more of the older voters, and try to build a broader coalition."
Raman closed her event by casting the runoff as a campaign against Los Angeles' political establishment.
"We aren't just running against an incumbent," Raman said. "We are running against the entire political machine. But we have something that they don't. We have energy. We have joy and, most importantly, we have a vision of the city that we know is worth fighting for."
Bass' campaign has already begun pushing back, saying Raman is attacking groups she once sought support from.
The runoff gives both candidates about five months to make their case to Los Angeles voters before the November election.