L.A. Council's 14 Members Pledge Support to Mayor-elect Raman After Backing Bass

Q: Who will fill the vacant District 4 seat, and could this upcoming appointment secretly disrupt the fragile new peace at City Hall?

No one has been chosen yet to fill the District 4 vacancy, and the decision will likely be made after Nithya Raman is sworn in as mayor and after the council’s winter recess. What is clear is that the Los Angeles City Council, not District 4 voters, is positioned to decide whether to appoint a replacement rather than hold a special election. Reporting indicates Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson’s office has already signaled interest in handling the vacancy through appointment, with senior adviser Martin Schlageter saying the council wants to work with Raman on selecting someone who best serves District 4. No candidate has been publicly named. That upcoming choice could test the new cooperative tone at City Hall. The mayor needs the council on budgets, confirmations and policy, while the council needs the mayor’s support on district priorities. But a vacancy appointment is a high-stakes decision because it affects council power, alliances and the ideological balance of the body. If Raman and council leaders disagree over who should take her seat, the dispute could reopen campaign-era tensions that members are now trying to paper over. For now, though, there is no public evidence that a clash is imminent. Harris-Dawson has said he believes he and Raman can work together, and observers describe the post-election peace as pragmatic. The real strain point will come when the council moves from polite statements to the concrete question of who gets District 4.

3 articles · Updated · KABC-TV · Nov 10

All 14 Los Angeles City Council members who opposed Nithya Raman’s mayoral run publicly congratulated her Tuesday, with several promising to work with her after a bitter campaign.
Raman answered the overtures with her own call for cooperation, saying the council’s shared goal is improving Los Angeles even when members get “spicy” over how to do it.
Sara Sadhwani of Pomona College said the pivot is pragmatic: the mayor controls budget approvals and can elevate council priorities, giving members strong incentives to repair ties quickly.
Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who removed Raman from a key committee during the race, said after meetings with her that they can work together, though questions remain over his council presidency and who will fill Raman’s seat next month.