6月2日晚，在洛杉矶市长初选结束后，尼蒂亚·拉曼似乎不再相信自己能闯入下一轮。最终结果尚未出炉，但这位45岁的民主党候选人晋级的希望正在渺茫。自2020年以来，她一直担任美国第二大城市市议会的议员。
On the evening of June 2, after the primary in Los Angeles’s mayoral election, Nithya Raman no longer seemed to believe she would make it through. The final results were not yet in, but the chances of advancing were fading for the 45-year-old Democratic candidate, who has served on the City Council of the United States’ second-largest city since 2020.
拉曼于2月7日较晚宣布参选，挑战现任市长、同为民主党的凯伦·巴斯，这似乎发出了她竞选即将结束的信号。在演讲中，她感谢了她的团队和她的丈夫、编剧瓦利·昌德拉谢卡兰，并提到了她10岁的双胞胎，称赞他们对一位自出生以来“总是在参加各种竞选”的母亲的耐心。随后，眼泪夺眶而出。她声音颤抖地表示，她一直在奋斗，以确保她的城市“无愧于生活在这里的孩子们”。这位平日里自律、哈佛毕业且准备周全的候选人罕见地流露出真实的悲伤情绪，迅速在媒体和社交网络上流传开来。
Having entered the race late, on February 7, challenging the sitting mayor Karen Bass – also a Democrat – Raman appeared to be signaling the end of her campaign. In her speech, she thanked her team and her husband, screenwriter Vali Chandrasekaran, and mentioned her 10-year-old twins, praising their patience with a mother who, since their birth, "has always been running for something." Then the tears came. Her voice trembling, she said she was fighting to make sure her city is "worthy of the children who live in it." This rare display of raw emotion from the otherwise disciplined, Harvard-educated, and meticulously prepared candidate quickly made the rounds in the media and on social networks.
几天后，最终结果出炉。拉曼成功锁定了决选席位，位居这位73岁的现任市长之后。她以29%的得票率险胜斯宾塞·普拉特，后者是一位因激进言论和挑衅性AI生成视频而引发争议的共和党真人秀明星。决选将是两位民主党人之间的较量——这是一个意想不到的局面，尤其是考虑到洛杉矶几乎历任现任市长历史上都在初选中成功连任。
A few days later, the final results came in. Raman managed to clinch a spot in the runoff, behind the 73-year-old incumbent mayor. With 29% of the vote, she narrowly edged out Spencer Pratt, a Republican reality TV star who had stirred controversy with radical statements and provocative AI-generated videos. The runoff will be a contest between two Democrats – an unexpected scenario, especially since almost every incumbent mayor of Los Angeles has historically been reelected in the primary.