LA's Mayor's Race is Too Close to Call, With Nithiya Raman about 17000 Votes Ahead of Karen Bass

As of the latest semi-official results released by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office early Wednesday morning (around 3:11 a.m.), City Councilmember Nithya Raman leads incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the nonpartisan runoff for mayor of Los Angeles.

- Nithya Raman: 377,458 votes (51.1–51.12%)

- Karen Bass: 360,864 votes (48.9–48.88%)

Raman’s margin is approximately 16,594 votes out of roughly 738,000 ballots counted so far (about 63% of the expected total, per NBC and other trackers). Bass held an early election-night lead that steadily narrowed; Raman overtook her shortly after midnight as additional ballots were tallied, and the lead has since widened modestly.[]()

The race remains too close to call. The Los Angeles County Registrar has stated that the next results update is scheduled for Wednesday, November 4, between 4 and 5 p.m. Counting of remaining ballots (including late-arriving vote-by-mail and provisional ballots) will continue this week, with further updates expected in the days ahead. Final certification is not expected until later in November.[]()

These figures are preliminary and subject to change. For the most current numbers, check the Los Angeles County Registrar’s results site.

Karen Bass and Nithya Raman clashed repeatedly during the 2026 campaign and debates over homelessness, housing, public safety, and City Hall management. Their differences center on approach, cost, and accountability rather than the basic goal of reducing street homelessness.[]()

Homelessness

Karen Bass has defended her signature Inside Safe program, which moves people from encampments into temporary motel/hotel rooms and interim housing. She has cited figures of more than 6,200 people brought indoors through roughly 150 operations, with more than 1,500 permanently housed in some reports. Bass has pointed to an overall reduction in street homelessness during her term (claiming around 11% in some statements) even while acknowledging the latest citywide count showed an increase (roughly 3.4% overall and nearly 8% unsheltered). She has argued the broader system is dysfunctional because it is shared with the county and LAHSA, and she has called for the city to take more direct control of homelessness services and prioritization of city residents for housing. She supports resolving major encampments, expanding interim housing on public land, and stronger tools for connecting people with mental health treatment.[

Nithya Raman has sharply criticized Inside Safe as extremely expensive (citing hundreds of millions spent, with reports of high per-person costs) and insufficiently accountable. She has highlighted a reported roughly 49% drop in unsheltered homelessness in her own Council District 4 as evidence that more targeted, lower-cost approaches can work, and she has pledged to audit every city dollar spent on homelessness, move city funding out of LAHSA, and create a public real-time dashboard. Raman has called for cutting the number of tents and encampments by at least half by the 2028 Olympics and largely eliminating long-term encampments by the end of a first term. Her preferred tools include expanding street medicine and clinical teams, time-limited rental subsidies/vouchers (described as lower-cost than motel placements), and more permanent housing pathways. She has generally opposed expanding anti-camping ordinances, arguing they mainly shift people between neighborhoods without housing them.[]

Housing and Affordability

Bass has touted Executive Directive 1 and related measures that she says accelerated approval of 100% affordable projects and increased production of income-restricted units. She has emphasized building more affordable housing while expressing caution about market-rate development that could lead to displacement. Raman has called for faster permitting (“shot clock” executive order), stronger tenant protections (including an office of tenant protections), and cutting red tape that makes Los Angeles one of the slowest and most expensive places to build. Both have engaged with rent stabilization updates; Raman has been a prominent advocate for stronger tenant rights on the council.[

Public Safety and Other Issues

Bass has supported maintaining or expanding LAPD staffing and has defended Police Chief Jim McDonnell. Raman has favored holding staffing roughly steady, expanding unarmed responses for nonviolent calls, and has been critical of certain LAPD handling of protests and immigration-related issues; she has at times signaled interest in replacing McDonnell. Both have opposed aggressive federal immigration enforcement, though they differ on the city’s specific response and data-sharing policies. Raman has also emphasized basic city services (streetlights, permitting, infrastructure) and has criticized Bass’s absence during the 2025 Palisades fire and other emergencies; Bass has pointed to subsequent changes in emergency response and recovery efforts while defending her overall record ahead of the 2028 Olympics.[]()

These positions come primarily from their October 2026 NBC debate, earlier candidate forums, campaign statements, and contemporaneous reporting. Exact numbers on outcomes (such as Inside Safe results or district-level drops) have been contested between the campaigns and are drawn from city/LAHSA data and candidate claims as reported at the time.