Ultra-woke millennial who desires to show golf programs into public housing, disarm cops and legalize medicine proclaims her bid to be LA mayor
A far-left millennial who wants to take guns away from cops, decriminalize drugs and turn golf courses into public housing has announced her Los Angeles mayoral bid.
Nithya Raman, 44, declared she will enter the race to run America’s second-largest city on Saturday – LA’s deadline to file for candidacy.
‘The city gave me and my husband so much, opportunities beyond what we could have ever hoped for.’ Raman, who has sat on the city council since 2020, said in a video shared on Instagram.
‘But today I fear that the city is no longer a place of opportunity for too many. Los Angeles is at a breaking point and people can feel it in the most basic ways.’
Raman then rattled off skyrocketing housing costs and the homelessness crisis as primary issues she hopes to tackle in office.
But critics are concerned that she will bring an extremist agenda to the city.
Raman is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has outlined its plans for the city in its ‘Program for Los Angeles.’
The blueprint for LA sets alarming goals for the city – like disarming police officers and ‘redirecting’ law enforcement budgets to services like mental health counseling.
Nithya Raman, seen in March, declared she will enter the race to run America’s second-largest city on Saturday
Homeless encampments are seen on the streets of LA in August
The DSA also supports decriminalizing drug use and funding safe injection sites, raising taxes, ending fossil fuel use, closing jails, combating ICE raids and repurposing golf courses for low-income housing.
Under its demands, the DSA wrote that it hopes to ‘explore opportunities to move housing out of the private market’ through ‘vacancy taxes that make it unaffordable for landlords to maintain empty residential units’ and eminent domain.
The program also strongly opposes the 2028 Olympics, set to be held in LA and expected to bring billions of dollars to Southern California.
Raman is one of three DSA members on the LA city council. She has openly advocated for defunding the police.
She voted against a 2022 measure to ban homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycares.
The following year, she opposed a contract with the Los Angeles Protective League that included a 14 percent raise for new officers.
In her opposition statement, she claimed that the raise went against the ‘broader goal’ of making the city safe amid the LAPD’s staffing shortage.
The city council majority ultimately voted in favor of a four-year contract to increase the LAPD base salary by 13 percent with a 3 percent annual increase.
‘Nithya Raman wants to eliminate police officers, depopulate our jails, and allow homeless encampments anywhere the homeless want to set up camps,’ a Los Angeles Protective League spokesperson told The New York Post.
Raman addresses her followers in a social media post announcing her candidacy
LAPD recruits receive their badges on February 6. Raman has expressed support for defunding the police
He slammed her candidacy as a ‘recipe for disaster’ because she ‘refused to hold criminals, drug addicts and drug dealers accountable.’
Raman, who was born in India and moved to the US when she was six years old, studied political theory at Harvard and earned a master’s degree in urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She is married to TV writer and producer Vali Chandrasekaran, who worked on shows including Modern Family and 30 Rock. They have 10-year-old twins together.
Raman’s last-minute bid came as County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath decided not to run for the seat.
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who previously lost to incumbent Karen Bass, also said that he will not run.
Austin Beutner, a civic leader and former LA school superintendent, recently dropped his bid because of the recent death of his 22-year-old daughter Emily.
As of Monday, prediction market Kalshi has set Raman’s odds of winning at 34 percent. Bass’ are 43 percent, and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt’s are at 14 percent.
Raman appears to have thrown a wrench in her once-political ally Bass’ clearcut path to re-election.
LA Mayor Karen Bass is seen speaking on January 30. She has come under fire for allegedly mishandling LA’s after-action report on the Palisades fire
Both NYC and Seattle have elected Democratic-socialist mayors
‘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,’ Raman told the LA Times.
‘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.’
Bass has recently come under fire for allegedly mishandling LA’s after-action report on the Palisades fire.
Raman’s decision to run comes as far-left leaders have taken control of other major cities across the US.
Democratic-socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has a similarly soft-on-crime and homelessness stance to Raman.
Police feel virtually helpless in the city, as City Attorney Erika Evans has allegedly made it clear to them that she will hardly prosecute on many public drug offenses.
Zohran Mamdani, another Democratic socialist, campaigned on bringing free buses and city-run grocery stores to New York City.
He previously vowed to stop clearing homeless encampments in the Big Apple.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Raman’s office for comment.
