L.A. could get democratic socialists in mayor, city attorney spots
Democratic socialists are looking to expand their power at Los Angeles City Hall this fall with their biggest prizes yet: mayor and city attorney.
Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman and city attorney hopeful Marissa Roy, both members of the Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, are advancing toward the Nov. 3 general election with strong performances in the June 2 primary.
If victorious in November, Raman would join the ranks of democratic socialists leading major US cities, including New York’s Zohran Mamdani and Seattle’s Katie Wilson. Washington DC is next: Janeese Lewis George wins Democratic primary election for mayor He was there this month, but he had ensured that he would win the general election in that deep blue city.
In Los Angeles, a democratic socialist mayor and city attorney could mean more influence because of the ideological lockstep between the two offices, said Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University. In such a scenario, the city attorney’s office is unlikely to be a check on the mayor’s authority to set policy on issues such as land use and public safety, he said.
“It’s incredibly important that the city attorney interprets most of the policy that the mayor can push as the correct policy and not challenge it,” Guerra said.
The election of Raman and Roy would also underscore the leftward tilt of Los Angeles, which has four City Council members, including Raman, a DSA member, two of whom were re-elected in the primary. City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who was recommended (though not officially confirmed) by the DSA, was also re-elected.
DSA staunchly advocates ideas to the left of more established Democrats, such as incumbent L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. For example, the LA DSA chapter says its goals include: abolition of prisons and defunding the police.
DSA-LA co-president Sean Wakasa said his organization is growing in Los Angeles and across the country because it destigmatizes the concept of socialism.
“Democratic socialism, at the end of the day, is about making politics in which working class Americans can see themselves,” Wakasa said.
In Los Angeles, a DSA mayor would be expected to build more public transportation, strengthen protections for renters, fight for workers’ rights, raise the minimum wage and protect local immigrants from the federal government, Wakasa said.
He said the city attorney will be expected to defend working-class Angelenos by enforcing tenant protections, addressing wage theft problems and enforcing sanctuary city policies.
Business groups and public safety advocates have expressed concern about the possibility of DSA members calling the shots at City Hall.
“They tread roughshod over the city,” said Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. He said Raman and Roy “didn’t just drink the DSA Kool-Aid, they lived it.”
Waldman said he expects Los Angeles, under democratic socialist leadership, to adopt overzealous tenant protection policies that would discourage new rental housing development. He said they would also seek to weaken the police, which would lead to a “crime-for-all” approach.
“They get things done,” Waldman said.
Roy, who has vowed to transform the city attorney’s office into “the largest public interest law firm in the city” by targeting wage theft, tenant harassment and other issues, disputed Waldman’s claim.
“Allowing corporate bad actors to violate our laws does not make Los Angeles safer or more affordable; implementing protections for tenants, workers, and consumers does,” Roy said in a statement.
Raman said in a statement that he shares “DSA’s commitment to fighting for working people and those left behind by a political system that too often serves powerful interests rather than ordinary Angelenos.”
But he also said there is “no liberal or conservative way to fill a hole.”
“I have always believed that the most progressive thing you can do is to ensure that government actually delivers,” Raman said. “Every time City Hall fails to do this—potholes that go unrepaired, streetlights that remain dark, 911 calls that go unanswered—it erodes people’s faith that government can fix problems.”
Rick Cole, a former deputy mayor of Los Angeles, said the DSA label for both candidates doesn’t mean they’ll stick to the most dramatized versions of what DSA represents. He said neither candidate was an ideologue.
Cole, a Pasadena City Council member, said Raman’s DSA membership is “an indication that he will be more skeptical of current policing practices.” “It’s going to be more focused on affordable housing. It’s going to be more focused on a humane approach to getting people off the streets.”
A poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Research, co-sponsored by The Times, showed that in the head-to-head runoff, Raman was supported by 32% of registered voters surveyed, while Bass was backed by 28%.
Bass finished first in the primary ahead of Raman, while former reality TV star Spencer Pratt finished third.
With Pratt now out, the race is on for both campaigns to appeal to voters generally considered more conservative. Still, the Bass campaign said it doesn’t plan to focus on Raman’s DSA membership.
“It’s not the labels that matter, it’s what it is.” [Raman’s] There are record demonstrations, and that means voting again and again to allow camping near schools and to shrink our police force. “This goes against what Los Angeles needs and what most of Los Angeles believes,” Bass campaign spokesman Alex Stack said in a statement.
Raman, who was twice elected to the City Council with DSA support, voted against additional police hiring and spending and the creation of new anti-camping zones around the city.
One irony is that DSA’s other three members on the City Council — Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado and Hugo Soto-Martínez — supported Bass, citing, among other factors, the mayor’s fierce resistance to last year’s immigration raids by the Trump administration.
DSA’s Los Angeles chapter initially recommended Raman but did not support him; the difference was that approval came with active research and support from DSA members. DSA-LA co-chair Leslie Chang said it was not yet clear whether her group would support Raman in the runoff.
Christian Grose, a political science professor at USC, said DSA’s endorsement of Raman could be a mixed blessing, given that Pratt’s support comes from more conservative parts of the city.
“Karen Bass is unpopular with Pratt voters and DSA is unpopular with Pratt voters, but who gets to decide the mayor’s choice,” he said.
Roy, the assistant state attorney, finished a clear winner in the city attorney primary and will face assistant district attorney John McKinney in the runoff.
McKinney said electing Roy to be city attorney would be like “going back in time.” George Gascon He was the attorney general of Los Angeles County, and police and prosecutors were saying this was a disaster for public safety.
In the last City Council primaries, DSA-endorsed incumbents Hernandez and Soto-Martinez easily won re-election, while DSA-endorsed Faizah Malik failed to advance incumbent Traci Park to a runoff in the Westside district.
In the Council District 9 race, DSA-certified community organizer Estuardo Mazariegos will face incumbent Curren Price’s former aide Jose Ugarte in a runoff.
DSA leaders are generally pleased with their candidates’ performance.
“DSA has really carved a niche for ourselves in L.A. County politics,” Chang said.
