As a blue tsunami overtook US politics this week, Los Angeles saw a major shake-up of its own with a wave of democratic socialists elected to key offices.
Most notably, Nithya Raman, the first democratic socialist to serve on the Los Angeles city council, prevailed over incumbent Karen Bass to become the next mayor. Even in the deep blue city, Raman’s victory was hardly a given, and marked a stunning win for the progressive wing of the party. With her election, America’s two largest cities will now be run by democratic socialist mayors.
The wins for the organization didn’t stop there.
Los Angeles voters backed numerous DSA-LA-endorsed candidates, including Marissa Roy for city attorney, and Angela Gonzales-Torres, who defeated the incumbent Jimmy Gomez for a US House seat. Other members won seats on school boards and the Burbank city council, meaning Burbank has the first socialist-majority city council on the west coast, DSA-LA said.
The organization saw its largest-ever slate of candidate victories after an election season in which volunteers knocked on more than ۱۱۰,۰۰۰ doors.
“These results show us what we’ve known for a long time: Angelenos are looking for an alternative to politicians beholden to billionaires and corporate interests,” Anna Gross, a DSA-LA steering member, said in a statement.
“With representation across LA county, in the most powerful positions in city hall and for the first time in US Congress [Gonzales-Torres], we look forward to showing Angelenos what Democratic Socialist leadership can deliver.”
DSA support was significant for Raman, and meant that a large network of volunteers canvassed for her across the city in the lead up to the election. But her campaign was also helped by the fact that Karen Bass was deeply unpopular. Polling has long shown that Angelenos are frustrated about the state of the city, and resentment over Bass’s handling of the Palisades fire damaged her.
“If there hadn’t been the Palisades fire in January of last year, I don’t think Nithya would have run. And I don’t think Karen Bass would have been defeated,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of the Los Angeles initiative at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“The majority of the people of the city, a significant majority, think that the city is on the wrong track. And the Palisades fire was really the poster child for all that people are unhappy about.”
This week’s victories have boosted DSA-LA, which had more than ۶,۰۰۰ members as of last month, and has seen another ۲,۰۰۰ people join this week alone, the chapter said.
The organization has significantly expanded its power and reach in recent years. Raman, who joined DSA in ۲۰۱۹, was the first elected to city council in ۲۰۲۰ in a stunning victory that saw her defeat an incumbent Democrat backed by Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. Yaroslavsky said at the time that her election marked a “a significant shift in the architecture of Los Angeles politics”, he recalled.
In the years since, the city has voted in three other DSA candidates to serve on its ۱۴-member council.
“The DSA organization has made an impact on LA city politics since ۲۰۲۰ 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 ۶۷.۳۹% 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 ۶۰.۶% of the vote to Gomez’s ۳۹.۴%, according to the most recently available figures. Gomez had served in Congress for nearly a decade and was endorsed by Aipac, which spent $۲.۷m 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 ۲۰۲۴ 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.”
