Who is Nithya Raman, the democratic socialist who will be Los Angeles’s next mayor? – The Guardian

Who is Nithya Raman, the democratic socialist who will be Los Angeles’s next mayor?  The Guardian

Urban planner and outsider who bested Karen Bass has close ties to Hollywood progressives – and a complicated relationship with the DSA Q&A: Ask your questions about Democrats’ win in the midterms Nithya Raman on Thursday unseated Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass after a neck-and-neck race for the leadership for the US’s second largest city. The young progressive’s victory means that the two largest cities in the US, as well the nation’s capital, Washington DC, have now all elected democratic socialist mayors. Though Raman’s political ascendance in Los Angeles has sparked many comparisons to New York City’s mayor Zohran Mamdani, her political profile in her home town is very different from Mamdani’s, as is her often tense relationship with the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Here’s some key facts about LA’s new mayor: Raman broke into politics in 2020 by unseating an establishment Democrat on LA’s powerful city council. When Raman, an urban planner and political outsider, won a seat on LA’s city council in 2020, it was the first time that a sitting city council member had been ousted in 17 years. One LA political analyst called her win “a political earthquake”. Raman, whose campaign was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, was also the first DSA-endorsed candidate elected to office in Los Angeles. Raman credited her 2020