LA’s newer, bluer wave: Nithya Raman leads way as city’s progressives make their mark

In the years since, the city has voted in three other DSA candidates to serve on its 14-member council.

“The DSA organization has made an impact on LA city politics since 2020 when they supported Nithya Raman the first time,” Yaroslavsky said. “They’re pretty sophisticated in the way they target their resources, [which] are human resources – they have a lot of campaign workers and precinct walkers.”

In an interview with the Guardian in September, DSA member Patrick Padilla said the organization’s platform has broad appeal – including among many people who don’t identify as democratic socialists. The group focuses on an array of issues, including affordable housing and tenant rights, immigrant rights, Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, among others, according to its website.

“We’re coming to find that the status quo has not been serving everyday working Americans. And when I’m on the doors, I’m talking to people. People are just focused on how they can get by day to day,” Padilla said.

Several candidates of the slate endorsed by the chapter this year won by huge margins this week. In the city attorney race, Roy won with 67.39% of the vote, according to the latest data available. Roy has pledged to make the city attorney’s office into the “largest public interest law office in the city” and to use “the law to fight for working people, immigrants, renters, consumers”.

Gonzalez-Torres won with 60.6% of the vote to Gomez’s 39.4%, according to the most recently available figures. Gomez had served in Congress for nearly a decade and was endorsed by Aipac, which spent $2.7m in support of his candidacy. He stood in sharp contrast to Gonzalez-Torres who described the war in Gaza as a genocide that the “Israeli military is only able to commit with the financial and political support of the US government”.

While Raman’s victory is undoubtedly a win for the chapter, the endorsement was complicated.

Raman entered the race at the last minute after DSA-affiliated colleagues had already backed Bass, and another candidate was in the running. DSA member Rae Huang also ran in the mayoral primary and the chapter opted not to support any candidate.

The organization censured Raman in 2024 for pursuing an endorsement from a Democrats for Israel group, and its decision to back her in this election came after internal debate. (And while the chapter endorsed her, the other DSA-affiliated council members stood by Bass.)

Shortly before the election, the organization’s national leaders considered rescinding the chapter’s support until Raman stated her position on the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. A vote on the matter ultimately failed.

The chapter has been outspoke in its support of her, writing in a social media post: “YUP, that’s our Mayor!!!”

While its the start of a new era in Los Angeles politics, the job of the mayor is the same. Once in office, Raman will have to build trust in communities that didn’t vote for her, Yaroslavsky said, which the mayor-elect has acknowledged.

“To every voter out there who voted for Mayor Bass or who chose not to vote in this election at all, please know this, I am going to city hall to work every single day to earn your trust and to earn your trust in this city again,” Raman said.

“That works starts now so that we can build housing people can afford, parks for our children, a transit system that can get people where they need to go, a city that is safe for its working people and its families, and a city government that is actually capable of delivering on its promises.”

Kaynak: The Guardian · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.