Radical LA councilmember Nithya Raman’s shocking record in spotlight as she enters mayor’s race

Radical-left Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman announced a surprise run for mayor Saturday that will pit the socialist candidate against former ally Karen Bass.

Raman — who has voted against relocating homeless encampments away from schools and blamed automaker Toyota for making catalytic converters to easy to steal — announced her candidacy just hours before the filing deadline.

The news sent shockwaves through LA’s progressive political establishment, with members seeing it as a boon to far-left candidates in other citywide races.

“Not only does this pose a serious threat to Mayor Bass, but it reframes the June primary in way that benefits down ballot progressives in other city race,” said former LA Councilmember Mike Bonin, who along with Raman has faced recall efforts over their response to crime and homelessness.

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The announcement comes as Bass — whom Raman called an “icon” — faces intense scrutiny over a bombshell report alleging that she tampered with the city’s after-action report on the devastating Palisades fire. 

The prediction market Kalshi immediately put Raman’s odds of winning as high as 34% on Saturday, second only to Bass and ahead of former reality TV star Spencer Pratt.

In 2023, Raman publicly blamed Toyota for thefts of catalytic converters while voting against a motion to make it illegal to possess a catalytic converter — one of the most popular targets for California thieves.

“In this case, I think one of the things that infuriates me, is that we have a company — whatever, Toyota, who makes the Prius, that essentially has a device on their cars which is super easy to remove. It’s basically the value of a MacBook, right?” said Raman, adding:

“That is put in a place that is incredibly easy to access in your car, and the thefts related to this issue have essentially — all of the costs of that — are given to us to bear instead of them [Toyota] having to manufacture a car that actually is not so easy to be stolen.”

When the City Council voted on a new four-year contract with the Los Angeles Police Protective League in 2023, Raman was one of only three members to vote against a contract offering 14% raises to starting officers. She argued the “enormous fiscal impact” would prevent the city from funding alternative responses to homelessness and mental health calls.

In 2021, she voted against a measure to ban homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers in LA, saying it only leads to the “shuffling [of] encampments from place to place.”

“Raman is a danger to Bass and threatens to make Los Angeles even less livable where our police department is further defunded, and no dangerous homeless encampments are cleared,” said Sam Yebri, a labor attorney and board president of the civic organization Thrive LA.

The lone Republican in the race, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, has been the most vocal in his criticism of Bass.

Raman jumped into the race just as County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath bowed out, turning up the pressure on Bass as the temperature intensifies.

Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso also confirmed Thursday week that he would not run after teasing a potential return to the race a day earlier.

Raman, who has applauded Bass’s leadership through year, said LA needs “big changes.”

“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,” she told The Los Angeles 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.”