Nithya V. Raman is an American urban planner and activist who made history in 2020 by defeating incumbent David Ryu to become the Los Angeles City Councilmember for the 4th district—the first time in 17 years a challenger had unseated an incumbent councilmember. Born in Kerala, India, in 1981 and raised in Louisiana from age six, she earned degrees from Harvard and MIT before founding the sanitation research firm Transparent Chennai and later the homelessness outreach nonprofit SELAH in Los Angeles. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Raman has focused her tenure on housing supply and homelessness reforms, though her 2024 reelection campaign saw her censured by DSA-LA after she accepted an endorsement from Democrats for Israel. She won reelection outright in the March 2024 primary with 50.6% of the vote, defeating Deputy City Attorney Ethan Weaver despite fierce opposition from police and firefighter unions. Now running for mayor in the 2026 election, Raman has advanced past the primary to challenge incumbent Karen Bass in the general election.