‘The voters made a decision’: Karen Bass speaks out after L.A. mayoral loss, addresses political future

In her first public remarks since losing to Nithya Raman, Bass reflected on more than two decades in elected office and called serving as mayor her greatest honor.

In her first public comments since conceding the Los Angeles mayoral race to Nithya Raman, Mayor Karen Bass told reporters that serving as mayor was “the greatest honor possible” while admitting she doubts she’ll return to politics in the future.

Bass was on hand in Vernon, California, on Tuesday, days after a fire began and then spread in the area. In her loss to Raman, she became the first Los Angeles mayor to lose their re-election bid since Jim Hahn lost to Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005.

“The voters made a decision and democracy prevails,” Bass told reporters. “I wish Nithya Raman the best of wishes because I have always been and will continue to be about the city of Los Angeles and what will help the city prosper.”

She added, “I put the election in the context of the national scene. To me, there was a wave and these waves happen. I’ve been around long enough to experience them, not where the necessarily affected me. But change waves happen where people are just frustrated. They just want change, they got it.”

Before her mayoral race against Raman, Bass had not lost a race in her political career, dating back to her time in the State Assembly in Sacramento before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She became the first woman elected to lead the country’s second-largest city in 2022, when she defeated businessman Rick Caruso.

However, Bass faced a tough challenge in Raman, who earned the support of the Democratic Socialist of America-LA and rode a wave of progressive candidates across the country. Raman is now the third self-described democratic socialist to lead a major U.S. city, joining Zohran Mamdani in New York and Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C.

When asked if she would consider a return to politics in the future, Bass, who has been an elected official since 2004, said it was “doubtful.”

“I have spent my entire life devoted to service, never thinking about what do I want to do personally. That moment is here,” Bass said. “It was the greatest honor possible. The culmination of a life’s work. The issues I was working on as mayor are the issues I was working on years ago from the community perspective before I ever envisioned a life in politics.”