Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman announced her run for Los Angeles mayor in a press conference on Saturday.

Raman, who oversees the City of Angels’ fourth district, has been sitting on the city council since 2020, championing for rent stabilization and solutions to address homelessness in the city. Her district includes Los Feliz, Reseda, the Hollywood Hills and other stretches of the San Fernando Valley.

In her announcement speech, Raman said she’s worried that the city “is no longer a place of opportunity.”

“Los Angeles is at a breaking point, and people feel it in the most basic ways,” she said. “Housing costs are forcing families out of the city, a homelessness system that lacks clear ownership and accountability is leaving people stuck in crisis while the city cycles from emergency to emergency. Too many people don’t feel safe walking down their own blocks at night, even as crime comes down because broken street light stay broken and the city can’t seem to manage the basics. And while everyone agrees we need more housing, the city still struggles to lead with urgency, building too little too slowly while working families get priced out over and over again.”

The mayoral hopeful added that the city is “cutting capacity while hoping that outcomes will somehow improve.”

“We’re asking residents to accept less while paying more and calling that normal; it isn’t,” she said.

Raman went on to say she believes the city needs a mayor who will demand accountability across all departments, prepare for emergencies ahead of time, fight for more housing and for more affordability.

“This is a city of extraordinary possibility, extraordinary,” she said. “But possibility only matters if our l leadership is accountable for delivering it and I’m ready to lead this city with seriousness, with accountability, urgency and ambition that is equal to this moment.”

She joins incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, reality television personality Spencer Pratt, coalition senior organizer Rae Chen Huang and 19 others in the nonpartisan primary. The primary race is slated to happen June 2.