Los Angeles is already a hard place to govern.
Now a blueprint for changing it — radically — has landed in the middle of a mayor’s race.
Socialist-aligned activists’ “Program for Los Angeles” is drawing fresh scrutiny as City Councilmember Nithya Raman launches a bid for mayor. Critics point to a Democratic Socialists of America document that calls for sweeping changes to policing, jails, energy use, and drug policy.
The document lays it out bluntly: disarm the police, end fossil fuel use, close jails, raise taxes, de-criminalize drugs. It opposes the 2028 Olympics. It calls for repurposing golf courses for public housing.
Raman, one of three DSA members on the Los Angeles City Council, has been a prominent supporter of defunding police. Critics also note she voted against a 2022 measure banning homeless camps within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers.
She announced a surprise run for mayor on Saturday. Los Angeles, she said, was “no longer a place of opportunity” and “at breaking point.”
Her record gives the argument weight—one way or another.
In 2023, Raman was one of three council members to oppose a new four-year contract with the Los Angeles Police Protective League that included a 14% raise for new officers. She cited what she called the “enormous fiscal impact,” saying it would limit funding for alternative responses to homelessness and mental health calls.
The union representing LAPD officers responded with fury, warning that electing Raman would destabilize public safety and governance.
“Nithya Raman wants to eliminate police officers, depopulate our jails, and allow homeless encampments anywhere the homeless want to set up camps,” the union’s board of directors told The New York Post.
“It’s a recipe for disaster … and danger.”
The union, which has endorsed Karen Bass, sharpened the attack.
It said if political backstabbing was a crime, “Nythia Raman would be a wanted fugitive.”
“Raman talks a good game about accountability but refuses to hold criminals, drug addicts and drug dealers accountable. How can anyone trust her?”
Other demands cited from the DSA document include training volunteers to “combat ICE raids,” cutting police numbers, closing Men’s Central Jail, establishing drug injection sites, and making all public transportation free.
The document also includes the claim that “colonial settler violence against Palestinians” is rooted in Los Angeles—an assertion critics described as unsubstantiated.
Raman’s political rise began in 2020, when she won the City Council seat for District 4, covering territory from the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains. In a June 2020 social media post, she called for services and housing to be funded by defunding the police.
Susan Collins, a Democrat who ran against Raman, said she sold her home of 17 years in October to leave the district. She argued it has become less safe with fewer officers on the street.
“If Raman were to win,” Collins warned, “more people would flee Los Angeles, and it would no longer be a livable city.”
In politics, manifestos are easy.
Cities are not.
Today’s cover: The extreme socialist agenda behind new Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman.https://t.co/9HdbTpGA1a
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