by Devan Sipher
‘Twas the night before the election filing deadline, And in the house painted blue No leader was stirring, not even Caruso. But Nithya Raman tossed and turned in her bed, While visions of Mamdani plums danced in her head.
For those who don’t know, last Saturday, Nithya Raman, a 44-year-old Democratic Socialist, entered the race for Los Angeles mayor at the last moment, complicating the cakewalk campaign Mayor Karen Bass had reason to anticipate only a day earlier. There’s been a lot of media hyperventilating about the timing, as well as the potential for a socialist incursion of the U.S. from coast to coast. But the real story isn’t about why the second-term Los Angeles council member chose to challenge Bass. It’s why others didn’t.
I don’t believe that Bass should be blamed for all the destruction of January 2025, but I also don’t believe her re-election should be a foregone conclusion. Her mayoral report card includes the loss of more than 6,800 homes, while she was attending to her political vanity a continent away. That’s far from honor roll territory, even grading on a curve.
She may end up making a good case for why she should be given a second chance. But she needs to make that case, and until she does, she’s politically vulnerable. Given that many politicians wake up each morning and see a future big-city mayor (or even President) in the mirror, the sharks should be circling. But they’re not.
Raman is a baby shark at best, and she may turn out to be more of a snapping turtle. She has an impressive pedigree, with degrees from Harvard and MIT, but she’s not terribly well known outside of progressive circles. It’s not clear how an acolyte of Bass, who refers to Bass as an “icon,” will win over Bass’s critics. It’s equally unclear how a practitioner of identity politics, who’s a former executive director of Time’s Up, will convince black voters that Bass’s time is also up. It’s worth noting that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani didn’t have to run against former Mayor Eric Adams, and Bass, unlike Adams, hasn’t been criminally indicted.
Maybe that’s why Lindsey Horvath and Rick Caruso didn’t nibble at the bait. Or maybe it’s because the vast majority of politicians tow the party line. This is why Joe Biden ran unopposed in 2024 despite faltering health. Our so-called democracy has become an apparatchik system, without any assistance from card-carrying socialists.
Local residents don’t have to look to Los Angeles to see the results. In Santa Monica, six council members were so eager to ingratiate themselves with elected leaders higher up the food chain that they voted last year to support state Senate Bill 79 before it was fully written, let alone fully studied.
It’s disconcerting how often those six council members vote in lockstep. During the 2024 election, more than one of them assured me I was incorrect to anticipate such behavior from them. I’m still waiting to be proven wrong.
I’ll admit I’m ancestrally predisposed to be wary of any group of people who agree with each other too unconditionally. But it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who famously said “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” And in case anyone needs reminding, the state bill responsible for billions of dollars in sexual abuse litigation was passed unanimously.
That being said, the Santa Monica Council supermajority may vote in unison simply because they sincerely and even fervently believe in the worthiness of the items before them. However, Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya often probes city staff with questions that reveal contradictions and caveats to proposed ordinances—and sometimes explicit downsides. Yet it rarely seems to sway her vote or anyone else’s.
I keep hoping that the council members will see past fashionable tropes and rise above short-term political calculations. I believe that each and every one of them has the sincere desire to do good. But I confess I also used to believe in Santa Claus.
Devan Sipher can be reached at Devan@SMDP.com.