DSA City Councilwoman Nithya Raman is running an insurgent left-wing campaign for the mayor's office against Karen Bass and LA's unpopular status quo Democratic establishment.

This race represents a crossroads for the future of our city. Will an insurgent Left seize control of our city government to build a Los Angeles that works for its working class? Or will the establishment fend off this insurgency and deepen its power for the next four years? Socialists must lead in this fight to win the Mayor's office and be a leading part of the governing coalition that reshapes our city in the interests of its multiracial working class.

Endorsing in this race aligns with DSA-LA's electoral strategy for three key reasons:

First, by meeting the left-wing masses where they are at and agitating around this race, we will welcome thousands of new socialists into our organization's ranks, just as we did during the Bernie campaigns and DSA-LA’s four successful city council races, starting with Nithya’s in 2020.

Second, Nithya winning the mayor's office and implementing her bold agenda will be nothing short of life-changing for LA's working class. DSA-LA should be part of shaping her governing agenda and showing Angelenos how democratic socialism can concretely improve their lives by shifting power away from the capitalists and towards the working class. This will sharpen our ability to evolve beyond winning electoral campaigns to co-governing with our Socialists in Office.

Third, Karen Bass and the Democratic establishment are at unprecedented levels of unpopularity and voters across Los Angeles are ready for new leadership right now. As Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander showed us in New York City, the Democratic Party is ripe for a left-liberal insurgency with the socialist Left leading the charge. If we sit out of this race, we risk ceding the mantle of insurgency and change to progressive liberals. Conversely, if we endorse Nithya and are seen to be leading a citywide grassroots upswell that carries her to victory, we will cement our status as the leading left-wing force in LA politics.

When DSA-LA endorses someone or something that means not only are we vouching for them/it, we are also going to put in work in support of the candidate or initiative by forming a working group that will volunteer hundreds of hours organizing canvasses, phone banks, doing research, making content for social media, and more. It is a massive commitment to make and depends on large amounts of chapter enthusiasm and labor to mobilize and succeed in our electoral work.

Nithya Raman has committed to running as democratic socialist and participating in our Socialists in Office (SIO) program if elected!

We, the undersigned, support DSA-LA’s endorsement of Nithya Raman’s campaign for mayor, and are ready to organize to defeat Karen Bass and the Democratic establishment: