Raman ‘Flew Solo’ For Mayor. Now Her City Hall Colleagues Are Rallying Around Her

LOS ANGELES, CA — Mayor-elect Nithya Raman was welcomed at City Hall Tuesday by members of the Los Angeles City Council, who presented her with flowers and a certificate and pledged to work with her after a campaign in which none of them endorsed her over incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.

Raman joined her colleagues for Tuesday's meeting, the council's first since she defeated Bass in last week's election. Raman, 45, held a nearly double-digit lead over Bass, 54.73% to 45.27%, or 606,631 votes to 499,391, according to the latest results from the Los Angeles County Registrar- Recorder/County Clerk.

"I know we're all ready to get back to business. I want to thank you, Council President, and to every single one of my colleagues who stood up today. I'm grateful for you and for your words, and what I know was your sincere commitment to working together for the betterment of this city," Raman said.

"We all came to this from different pathways and from different perspectives, but we are all here because we love LA, and we want to make it better," Raman added.

Raman thanked each council member for the lessons she said she had learned from them and for their leadership in their respective areas of focus.

She committed to work with them to improve the city.

"I'll be here for the next couple of weeks and commit to carrying everything that I have learned from here and from each of you across the hallway, so that I can be the best partner that I can be to you and your constituents," Raman said.

Raman said her experience as a council member would help her understand the needs of the legislative branch and pledged to make the mayor's office a partner that helps council members get answers and deliver results for constituents.

"The challenges facing our city are too big for any of us to solve without partnership, without trust and without each other. They're just too big. We can't do it. We are in a big moment," Raman said.

"But we have to work together to solve it, and I'm honored to continue serving alongside you as we begin this next chapter for Los Angeles," Raman said.

Each council member who was present gave remarks and congratulated Raman. Councilwoman Traci Park was absent from Tuesday's meeting.

"All of us around the table are part of a club of running for office, and running for office is a really hard thing, and it puts a lot of pressure on you and your family and your team," Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky said.

"I just want to acknowledge that this has been a hard-fought race, and it's been a lot," Yaroslavsky added.

Yaroslavsky acknowledged that she and Raman had disagreed in the past and likely would again, but said she hoped to work together for the betterment of the city.

"We have enormous challenges ahead of us as a city, but we also have a really amazing opportunity for a new chapter for Los Angeles, and I'm looking forward to what we're going to all accomplish together," Yaroslavsky said. "So, congratulations, Madam Mayor-elect."

Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, who represents the 14th District, said there was something to respect and admire about Raman for "flying solo" in her mayoral bid. Raman received no endorsements from her fellow council members during the campaign, several of whom backed Bass for reelection.

Jurado also noted that Raman will be the city's first South Asian mayor.

"I must confess that when you did run that was something that inspired me — seeing someone like you with progressive ideals that ran for council was something that inspired me to run," Jurado said, adding that fellow progressive council members Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez also motivated her bid for the 14th Council seat.

Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez and Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, who supported Bass and appeared with her on the campaign trail, said they were prepared to work with Raman.

Rodriguez, a vocal critic of Bass, said she would be one of Raman when necessary.

"The campaign is over. Where we align, we will work together, and where we don't, I will be fiercely opposing. But one of the areas we first came together was in my pursuit to create the city's first youth department, and we overcame the odds to help establish a department that would finally be the voice for young people in this city," Rodriguez said.

"... Where we mutually agree is that this city is the greatest city in the world, and it deserves to have individuals that are equally as passionate and determined to make sure that it's at its very best and highest ideals are achieved," Rodriguez added.

Raman is expected to take office Dec. 14.

City News Service