Nithya Raman, the Democratic Socialist of America member running to be mayor of Los Angeles, is at risk of losing support from her local DSA chapter.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s national leadership is considering stripping Raman of the endorsement she received from its Los Angeles chapter in August, citing her refusal to explicitly embrace the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
The DSA’s National Political Committee has determined that its Los Angeles chapter violated national rules when it endorsed Raman in August because local DSA leaders didn’t ask the candidate whether she supported BDS. National leaders are now considering proposals to rescind the endorsement and prevent the LA chapter from using its resources to support her campaign.
But local DSA leaders are pushing back. In a message to members, obtained by Vanity Fair, LA chapter co-chairs Leslie Chang and Sean Wakasa acknowledged that they failed to include a mandatory question about BDS during their endorsement process, calling it an “oversight.” But they insisted Raman’s positions on Palestinian rights have “evolved significantly” and that she’s aligned with the organization on this issue. The local chapter also said they have requested a written statement from Raman’s campaign asking her to clarify her position.
Raman’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The National DSA declined to comment.
The dispute could present a problem for Raman, who rode DSA support to an upset City Council victory in 2020 but has since frustrated some DSA members with her positions on policing, housing development, and Israel.
Locally, losing the endorsement could strip Raman of volunteers and organizing infrastructure just weeks before her runoff against Mayor Karen Bass. But the rupture could also complicate her opponents’ efforts to portray Raman as an uncompromising far-left radical.
In the last few months, Raman and Bass have both been courting supporters of Spencer Pratt, the conservative reality television personality who got 26% of the vote in June’s primary by running an anti-establishment, tough on crime campaign. Some Pratt voters might actually look favorably on Raman if she refuses to endorse BDS in order to secure DSA-LA’s support.
Jason Oppenheim, the luxury real estate broker best known for his role on Selling Sunset, was intrigued by Pratt and Raman this election cycle. He attended campaign events for both candidates and recently interviewed Raman on Graham Stephan's podcast. Like a lot of other more politically centrist Angelenos, Oppenheim is apprehensive about the DSA’s rise but he’s encouraged by Raman’s willingness to break with the organization on policy. He told VF that losing the DSA endorsement could actually help Raman. “To a lot of moderates, a DSA endorsement is a net negative,” he told VF. Raman, he argued, already has a lot of progressive support and should be courting the Pratt and Rick Caruso voters.
Nationally, the fight raises a larger question about how much ideological compromise the DSA will accept in its pursuit of electoral power.
Just yesterday, The New Yorker published a story about how the DSA is embracing political pragmatism over ideological purity in an attempt to gain some real governing power, and they highlighted DSA-LA’s endorsement of Raman as evidence of that shift in thinking.
More than 900 local DSA members voted to endorse Raman. There’s currently a petition circulating among them urging national leaders to respect their vote to endorse Raman.
When Vanity Fair profiled Raman earlier this year, her team asked us to qualify a line in the story about Raman accepting an endorsement from a Pro-Israel group (Democrats For Israel-Los Angeles) in order to specify that it wasn’t from AIPAC. Then at last week’s mayoral debate, Raman quoted Ronald Reagan. The trouble with trying to please anti-zionist socialists and Reagan Republicans? You risk alienating both.
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