New York City has Zohran Mamdani. Seattle has Katie Wilson.
Is Los Angeles next?
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, an avowed socialist, entered the race on Saturday to oust Mayor Karen Bass in June.
Yes, the Democratic Socialists of America backs Raman.
“Los Angeles is at a breaking point, and people feel it in the most basic ways,” Raman said to the press.
Raman praised Bass, but told The Los Angeles Times that the city needs major changes.
“I have deep respect for Mayor Bass. We’ve worked closely together on my biggest priorities and her biggest priorities, and there’s significant alignment there,” explained Raman. “But over the last few months in particular, I’ve really begun to feel like unless we have some big changes in how we do things in Los Angeles, that the things we count on are not going to function anymore.”
Weirdly enough, Raman endorsed Bass two weeks ago.
Honestly, Raman can win. In 2020, she received the most votes for any candidate in Los Angeles’s history.
Bass is under fire (no pun intended) due to her handling of the wildfires that struck the Pacific Palisades.
The Los Angeles Times recently reviewed several draft after-action reports. As Leslie wrote:
The article noted that once a draft was finished, officials quietly deleted and revised sections to soften or obscure leadership failures in preparing for and fighting large-scale wildfires. The final version, overseen by interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, reframed “failures” as “challenges,” deleted references to safety guideline violations, and replaced a dramatic cover photo with a neutral LAFD seal to improve the department’s image.It took the team 7 drafts to make the final version more palatable to LA’s leadership.Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in any attempt to soften the report and downplay the incompetence of city officials across a wide array of departments and in her office. However, if an exclusive report using “two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office” is used, the Los Angeles Times reports that Bass played a key role in the final product.
Raman never criticized Bass over the fires until Saturday. She said Los Angeles “needs a mayor who will ‘prepare for emergencies before they happen.'”
“Los Angeles needs a mayor who’s going to take responsibility for the whole system,” stated Raman.
Raman is only 44 years old, while he is 72. It’s expected that she will attract the youth. She has already captured the attention of the tech and entertainment industries.
Both ladies face Republican Spencer Pratt, who made his name in reality television.
Pratt has been outspoken against Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom over the fires. Pratt and his wife, Heidi Montag, lost their home.
Pratt will likely be a force in the race. Everyone knows him from The Hills. He’s active on social media and knows how to connect with the youngins.
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