As a blue tsunami engulfed American politics this week, Los Angeles saw a major upheaval with a wave of democratic socialists elected to key positions.
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 was a resounding victory for the progressive wing of the party. With his election, America’s two largest cities will now be run by democratic socialist mayors.
The organization’s victories don’t stop there.
Los Angeles voters supported many DSA-LA-backed candidates, including Marissa Roy for city attorney, and Angela Gonzales-Torres, who defeated incumbent Jimmy Gomez for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. 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 highest number of candidate victories following an election campaign in which volunteers knocked on more than 110,000 doors.
“These results show us what we have known for a long time: Angelenos are looking for an alternative to politicians beholden to billionaires and corporate interests,” Anna Gross, managing member of DSA-LA, said in a statement.
“With representation across Los Angeles County, in the most powerful positions at City Hall and for the first time in the U.S. Congress (Gonzales-Torres), we look forward to showing Angelenos what democratic socialist leadership can deliver.” »
The DSA’s support was important to Raman and meant that a large network of volunteers canvassed for her across the city ahead of the election. But his campaign was also helped by the fact that Karen Bass was deeply unpopular. Polls have long shown that Angelenos are frustrated with the state of the city and that resentment over Bass’s handling of the Palisades fire has hurt her.
“If it hadn’t been for the Palisades fire in January of last year, I don’t think Nithya would have escaped. And I don’t think Karen Bass would have been defeated,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles initiative at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“The majority of people in the city, a significant majority, think the city is on the wrong track. And the Palisades fire was really an illustration of everything that people are unhappy with.”
This week’s victories strengthened DSA-LA, which had more than 6,000 members last month, and saw 2,000 more 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 2019, was first elected to the city council in 2020 in a resounding victory that saw her defeat an incumbent Democrat backed by Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. Yaroslavsky said at the time that his election marked “a significant change in the political architecture of Los Angeles,” he recalled.
In the years since, the city has voted for three other DSA candidates to serve on its 14-member council.
“The DSA organization has had an impact on Los Angeles city politics since 2020, when it first endorsed Nithya Raman,” Yaroslavsky said. “They are quite sophisticated in the way they target their resources, (which) are human resources – they have a lot of campaign workers and constituency precincts.”
In an interview with the Guardian in September, DSA member Patrick Padilla said the organization’s platform had broad appeal — including among many people who do not identify as democratic socialists. The group focuses on a range of issues, including affordable housing and tenants’ rights, immigrants’ rights, Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, among others, according to its website.
“We’re seeing that the status quo has not served ordinary working Americans. And when I’m at the door, I’m talking to people. People are just focused on how they can get by on a daily basis,” Padilla said.
Several candidates from this year’s section-backed list won by huge margins this week. In the race for city attorney, Roy won with 67.39 percent of the vote, according to the latest available data. Roy pledged to make the city attorney’s office the “largest public interest law firm in the city” and to use “the law to fight for workers, immigrants, tenants and consumers.”
Gonzalez-Torres won with 60.6% of the vote to Gomez’s 39.4%, according to the most recent figures available. Gomez served in Congress for nearly a decade and was endorsed by AIPAC, which spent $2.7 million to support his candidacy. He contrasts sharply with Gonzalez-Torres who described the war in Gaza as a genocide that “the Israeli army can only commit with the financial and political support of the American government.”
Although Raman’s victory is undoubtedly a victory for the chapter, the approval was complicated.
Raman entered the race at the last minute after fellow DSA affiliates had already supported Bass, and another candidate was in the running. DSA member Rae Huang also ran in the mayoral primary and the chapter chose not to support any candidate.
The organization censured Raman in 2024 for seeking support from a Democrats for Israel group, and its decision to support her in that election came after internal debate. (And while the chapter endorsed her, other DSA-affiliated board members supported Bass.)
Shortly before the election, the organization’s national leadership considered rescinding the chapter’s support until Raman declared his position on the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. The vote on the issue ultimately failed.
The chapter clearly gave him its support, writing in a social media post: “Yeah, he’s our mayor!!! »
Even though it’s the start of a new era in Los Angeles politics, the mayor’s job is the same. Once in power, Raman will need to build trust in communities that didn’t vote for her, Yaroslavsky said, something the mayor-elect acknowledged.
“To all voters who voted for Mayor Bass or chose not to vote at all in this election, know this: I go to City Hall to work every day to earn your trust and earn your trust in this city again,” Raman said.
“It starts now so we can build affordable housing for people, parks for our children, a transit system that can get people where they need to go, a city that is safe for its workers and families, and a city government that can actually deliver on its promises.”
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