#Nithya #Raman,
a progressive urban planner,
entered Los Angeles politics with a bang when she was elected to city council in 2020,
defeating an incumbent Democrat endorsed by Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.
⭐️More than five years on, the 44-year-old is making waves again
with her last-minute entry into the
⚡️LA mayoral race.
Raman filed to run just hours before the deadline
– after recently endorsing Mayor #Karen #Bass for re-election
– to the surprise of constituents, and political allies and opponents alike.
The bombshell development came after the race had finally appeared to be swinging in Bass’s favor,
following months of criticism over the city’s handling of last year’s wildfires and ever present frustrations about homelessness and housing.
👉Several competitors had recently announced that they would not run, seemingly easing Bass’s path to victory.
That also presented an opening for Raman.
It’s rare to have a serious contender join a race so late, the veteran LA journalist Jim Newton noted,
but Raman immediately emerged as one of the strongest and well-known candidates.
While running for city council, Raman had received endorsements from stars Jane #Fonda and Mindy #Kaling.
Media outlets have drawn inevitable parallels between her and Zohran #Mamdani, another #Democratic #Socialist.
Raman said in a statement to the Guardian that she viewed running for mayor is
an “extraordinary opportunity” to make Los Angeles more affordable
and “to govern with urgency and accountability”.
Her candidacy has changed the calculus of the race,
and fueled fascination with the race and her split with Bass.
In a lengthy interview with Raman,
the NBC Los Angeles political reporter Conan Nolan suggested that,
to Bass, the development was not unlike Brutus’s betrayal of Julius Caesar.
“I don’t think we should talking about the future of LA in the context of friendship or betrayal,” Raman said.
“We need to be talking about the issues that are facing us and how we can fix them.”
Now the question is whether she can build a campaign that will resonate with voters, particularly when key portions of the city’s liberal base have already aligned with Bass.
“A lot of folks on the left are taken aback by her candidacy because it was so sudden
[and] because at the present moment with the current chessboard, it threatens the traditional progressive coalition in Los Angeles,”
said Mike Bonin, who spent nearly a decade on the Los Angeles city council.
