Mayor-elect Nithya Raman receives warm welcome from Los Angeles City Council at 1st meeting after election win

Mayor-elect Raman and the council pledged to work together for Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman attended her first City Council meeting on Tuesday since winning the mayoral election, receiving a warm welcome from her current colleagues as she acknowledged the serious work ahead.

Every council member in attendance offered gracious words to Raman. They highlighted what they had accomplished with her on the council and what they hope to achieve with her as mayor.

None of the council members endorsed Raman during her campaign. Still, they praised her campaign and said they were inspired by the fact that she did it solo.

Raman was introduced by L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who said she is the embodiment of what L.A. is.

“The way we settle political differences isn't by going into the street and fighting with each other, it isn't by crippling one side or the other economically, socially or physically, and it isn't by separating. We have a very sacred process of elections,” Harris-Dawson said. “This morning, we are excited to report that the people of this great city... they have chosen of this body's own, Councilmember Nithya Raman.”

Raman also addressed the council and thanked her colleagues for their remarks and commitment to working together.

“I just want to thank you, Council President, and to every single one of my colleagues who stood up today. I'm really grateful for you and for your words, and what I know is your sincere commitment to working together for the betterment of the city. We all came to this from different pathways and from different perspectives, but we are all here because we love L.A. and we want to make it better, and I know that about every single one of you,” Raman said. “And that passion sometimes makes us get spicy about the differences that we have on how we get there. But we have worked through it on the council, and I know how to do that work. And just because I'm down the hall doesn't mean I am going to forget how to do that work.”

Raman said every council member in attendance, along with absent Councilmember Traci Park, had taught her how to be a better council member and how to be a better mayor.

In a poignant moment, Raman identified an achievement she admires from each current council member.

The remarks indicated that the council and mayor-elect are ready to move forward and build new working relationships, which Raman will need to advance her proposals.