Commentary: One thing was clear on election night: Angelenos want change
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A huge, waning moon glimmered over Los Angeles on election night, a metaphor for a trend that emerged in early returns.The city’s political establishment seemed to be on the retreat in favor of populist insurgents from both the left and the right.Mayor Karen Bass held a cushy lead in her bid for a second term, and the Associated Press declared that she had made it into the November runoff election.But the underwhelming amount of support she got thus far showed that many voters in a super-blue city didn’t have enough confidence in a Democratic stalwart to return her to office.
Instead, many chose self-proclaimed upstarts from opposite ends of the political spectrum: Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt and democratic socialist City Councilmember Nithya Raman.Raman launched her campaign at the last moment, just weeks after endorsing her longtime ally Bass, figuring that enough Angelenos were tired of the incumbent and would join her message of change from inside City Hall.Raman’s instincts were half right.
Voters did want change.But they didn’t view her as a challenge to the status quo — to many, she is the status quo.
The mayoral hopeful didn’t articulate a platform that radically departed from Bass’, and voter antipathy to her muddled messaging showed: she ended the night in third place.If the current results hold, Bass would face Pratt in the runoff.
California Follow live updates, analysis and highlights from 2026 election day’s key races, such as California governor, Los Angeles mayor, L.A.city council and more.At Raman’s election-night party at Boomtown Brewery on the outskirts of Little Tokyo, I saw why her chances of becoming L.A.’s next mayor were slim from the start.
The gathering felt like happy hour at a Silver Lake bar: far whiter than the city overall, with few Latinos.Her address to a packed house was a grab bag of platitudes mixed with a ...