Editorial: Angelenos put the City Hall Establishment on notice

Given the late-count turnaround in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, it’s easy to see why there’s so much focus on the stunning jump by Councilwoman Nithya Raman into second place behind incumbent Karen Bass, creating a fascinating matchup among prominent Democrats and self-styled progressives in the November general election.

But there was wow factor as well in two other contests, one in which incumbent Controller Kenneth Mejia overwhelmed highly-financed challenger Zach Sokoloff, and the other in which City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto suffered the only loss for an incumbent in that position since 1933.

Mejia received 63% of the vote to Sokoloff’s 37%, despite Sokoloff receiving political endorsements from Sen. Adam Schiff and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. Four years ago, during his insurgent first campaign, this editorial board had been wary of some of Mejia’s radical rhetoric. But this year, on the strengths of his reformist and highly independent term, we endorsed the re-election of the tech-savvy young CPA. Mejia’s willingness to make City Hall uncomfortable means he’s doing his job as the city’s fiscal watchdog.

Finally, there’s the mayoral race.

Mayor Bass surely would have preferred a general election contest against MAGA Republican Spencer Pratt, given the city’s heavy Democratic registration. Instead she will face what one observer calls “a knife fight” against her former council ally Raman, associated with the democratic socialist movement. Bass faced deep discontent for her lackluster handling of the Palisades fire, which Raman will no doubt tap into. But on the other hand, Bass will no doubt highlight Raman’s further-left positions to cast herself as the moderate, safer choice.

It will be a battle to convince Democrats who has the executive competence to face Los Angeles’ many fiscal, infrastructure and social challenges in the coming four years. One thing is for sure, it will be very interesting.

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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 2:40 PM.