Commentary: She's got political savvy, good timing, or both. And she's about to become Mayor Raman

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Set us as preferred Robert Martinez, a retired IT guy, stepped out of the Eagle Rock Rec Center polling place Tuesday afternoon and said he had just filled in a ballot bubble not for L.A.Mayor Karen Bass, but for challenger Nithya Raman.“You know, I’m not really thrilled about her, either,” Martinez said, but he told me what a lot of people have been telling me.He wanted a change.“I saw what happened these last four years,” Martinez said, citing the continuing homelessness epidemic and the broken-down condition of the city, “and I’m hoping something different goes on this time.”He and thousands of others were ready to roll the dice, and meanwhile, Raman began to catch fire with young progressives who were voting for her rather than against Bass.Some votes are still being tallied, but it’s now clear that Raman will be the next mayor of Los Angeles.

And that will be remarkable, and fun to watch, for a number of reasons.Trump once said he could shoot someone and not lose any voters.He’s lost them now.She will take over despite every single one of her City Council colleagues having endorsed Bass, which is like the least popular kid in class getting elected school president.She will take over despite having flip-flopped on several major issues, including Bass’ signature homelessness strategy, which Raman willingly implemented until just recently.She will take over despite having unexpectedly rescinded her endorsement of Bass and eliciting whispers in and out of City Hall that she couldn’t be trusted.She will take over despite having lukewarm support from the very organization through which she began her rise — the Democratic Socialists of America.Raman is either a political savant, or someone with really good timing, or maybe a little of both.Everybody in L.A.

knew that Bass was mortally wounded, and ripe...