The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed Councilmember Nithya Raman for mayor Wednesday, giving the challenger a boost of left-wing, door-knocking energy as she challenges incumbent Karen Bass in the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n
The endorsement came after Raman secured more than 60% of the vote in an online election among the more than 6,000 DSA members in the Los Angeles region, the group said. With nearly 1,500 votes cast, the tally was 937 to endorse Raman and 484 against, with 52 abstentions, according to a screenshot of the vote viewed by The Times.<\/p>\n
The DSA is known for espousing controversial positions including defunding the police and abolishing prisons \u2014 stances that have drawn scorn from conservatives and put it at odds with the Democratic Party establishment.<\/p>\n
The group has notched major electoral victories across the country over the last year, however, most significantly with the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe growth of DSA has shown a clear movement to the left nationally,\u201d said Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College. \u201cA DSA endorsement will be shorthand for how to define Nithya Raman as a candidate both for the establishment in Los Angeles and for Republicans nationally.\u201d <\/p>\n
Raman, herself a DSA member since before her first run for council in 2020, will top a slate of nine candidates backed by DSA-LA in local and federal races Nov. 3. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur base of left-leaning demo socialists are fed up with the status quo and really want to see a significant change in how the city is run,\u201d said Tal Levy, a member of DSA-LA\u2019s electoral politics committee, which voted 3 to 2 to recommend the endorsement of Raman before the organization-wide vote.<\/p>\n
Levy noted concerns about Raman\u2019s endorsement, conceding she has been a less reliable vote on DSA issues than three other DSA-backed council members in L.A.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat said, I think there is near-unanimity that she is the better candidate in the race in the general election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Raman said she was \u201cproud that DSA-LA is joining our broad coalition of Angelenos working to make Los Angeles a city that works \u2014 and where everyone can afford to build a life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bass campaign representative Alex Stack declined to comment directly on the endorsement, although he criticized Raman for her stances on public safety and homelessness. <\/p>\n
Michael Trujillo, a Democratic political consultant who plans to work on an independent expenditure group supporting the incumbent mayor, suggested the DSA endorsement may be more curse than blessing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs more normal Democrats learn about their weird uncle DSA at the dinner table the less and less they\u2019re liking them,\u201d Trujillo said. \u201cDemocrats are finding that their weird uncle is belligerent, definitely not normal and has wacky ideas on how the world and cities should operate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raman was endorsed by the Los Angeles chapter of DSA in her two council runs as well, and she has passed major legislation supported by the group during her time on the council, including strengthening renter protections and reforming the city\u2019s rent stabilization ordinance for the first time in decades. <\/p>\n
Raman and the DSA have also had numerous public disagreements that have led some in the group to question whether she would be a good candidate to endorse for such an important role in local government.<\/p>\n
Her approval of budgets that increased police spending as well as her move earlier this year to revise Measure ULA \u2014 also known as the \u201cmansion tax\u201d \u2014 to offer an exemption to developers of multifamily and commercial projects drew the ire of many in the group.<\/p>\n
Her biggest split with the group came after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis. <\/p>\n
DSA released a statement<\/a> saying the attack \u201cwas not unprovoked.\u201d Raman called the group\u2019s statement<\/a> \u201cunacceptably devoid of empathy for communities in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, in early 2024, Raman was censured by DSA for seeking and accepting an endorsement from Democrats for Israel-Los Angeles, a liberal Zionist group.<\/p>\n Raman was the first L.A. elected official backed by DSA to win office. Since her election, the group has endorsed three more candidates for City Council who have won: Hugo Soto-Mart\u00ednez, Ysabel Jurado and Eunisses Hernandez. All three of those council members have endorsed Bass.<\/p>\n In addition to Raman, the DSA slate for the Nov. 3 election includes Marissa Roy, a candidate for city attorney, and Estuardo Mazariegos, who is running for council in South L.A.<\/p>\n The DSA, which dubbed its list of endorsements the \u201cShake Up LA\u201d slate, said it will also back Angela Gonzales-Torres, who is challenging Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) in the 34th Congressional District runoff.<\/p>\n The group endorsed two candidates \u2014 Nolan Southerland and Mike Van Gorder \u2014 for Burbank City Council, and Stephen Post for West Hollywood City Council.<\/p>\n In local school board races, the DSA has endorsed Estefany Casta\u00f1eda in the Centinela Valley Union High School District and Yaritza Gonz\u00e1lez in the Inglewood Unified School District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America endorsed Councilmember Nithya Raman for mayor Wednesday, giving…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1039704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,14732,2451,6283,255763,284152,415928,8988,11237,5169,2961,224,2444,5337,415929,52909,249145,6620,13235],"class_list":["post-1039703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-candidate","tag-city","tag-council","tag-councilmember-nithya-raman","tag-democratic-socialists","tag-dsa-member","tag-election","tag-endorsement","tag-group","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-mayor-wednesday","tag-nov","tag-raman","tag-time","tag-vote"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117203880658411294","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1039704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}