Councilmember Nithya Raman to run for L.A. mayor, challenging onetime ally Karen Bass

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For a few fleeting hours, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass seemed to be facing a clear path to reelection, after several high-powered challengers pulled out or declined to enter the race.But just three hours before the filing deadline, progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a onetime Bass ally, launched a mayoral bid, shocking the city’s political establishment and upending the race.Her candidacy poses the most serious threat yet to Bass, who for the last year has faced bruising criticism over her handling of the devastating Palisades fire.On Saturday, Raman portrayed the city government as unable to tackle high housing costs, fix broken streetlights or address the stubborn homelessness crisis.

City agencies, she said, “can’t seem to manage the basics.”“Los Angeles is at a breaking point, and people feel it in the most basic ways,” she said after submitting her candidate paperwork at the City Clerk’s Office.Raman, 44, who had previously endorsed the mayor’s reelection bid, called Bass “an icon” and someone she deeply admires.But she said the city needs a change agent to address its many problems.“I have deep respect for Mayor Bass.

We’ve worked closely together on my biggest priorities and her biggest priorities, and there’s significant alignment there,” Raman, who lives in Silver Lake, told The Times earlier in the day.“But over the last few months in particular, I’ve really begun to feel like unless we have some big changes in how we do things in Los Angeles, that the things we count on are not going to function anymore.”Unlike some other local politicians and mayoral candidates, Raman had not publicly criticized Bass about the Palisades fire.

That began to change on Saturday, with Raman saying the city needs a mayor who will “prepare for emergencies before they happen.” California The catastrophic Palisades fire has redefined the L.A....