Alissa, Mike, Rachel, and Olga unpack Nithya Raman’s surprise mayoral run. How the LA city councilmember’s last-minute decision to challenge incumbent Karen Bass has rattled establishment Democrats and angered activists on the left — and why comparisons to progressive officials in other cities don’t really hold up. Then: Trump’s attorney general Pam Bondi is suddenly worried about crime in Culver City.
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New York Times: “Rising Progressive Star Shakes Up Race for Los Angeles Mayor”
Here’s Raman’s campaign video and her first TV interview with NBC LA’s Conan Nolan
LA Daily News: “Nithya Raman’s entry tests Karen Bass from the left in Los Angeles mayoral race”
More reaction stories from the Los Angeles Times and Politico
“Now is not the time for distractions from a political opportunist — especially one who backed the Mayor’s re-election campaign just weeks ago,” said Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO told the LA Times
“As Raman scrambles to build a campaign apparatus before the June election, Bass’ supporters have rallied around the embattled incumbent with fresh energy and barely-veiled fury,” writes Melanie Mason at Politico (includes a quote from Mike!)
LA Times: “The record of Nithya Raman, L.A. mayoral candidate, may surprise you”
Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Rev. Rae Huang got her mic cut at a charter reform meeting about LAPD reform
One of Raman’s key platform planks is addressing the city’s streetlight outages. While some councilmembers might prefer dark skies, the truth is that the city needs to raise the streetlight district assessments not increased the 1990s — and Raman has already been messaging this reality to her constituents
Read Alissa’s story at Torched about the new SAJE report looking at the financial risks of hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games and how the city could turn a bad deal into a less-bad one
And if you need a refresher about who, exactly, is running for mayor, check out Mike’s video about the five front-runners
In response to questioning about the Epstein files from Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Attorney General Pam Bondi went off on a bizarre tangent: “Her district includes Culver City, and she’s not talking about any crime in her districts”
“Kamlager-Dove shrugged off Bondi’s comment, saying Culver City was known for “breakfast burritos — not crime,” reports the LA Times
“The first thing I thought was, ‘What is she talking about?’ said Bryan Fish, the vice mayor of Culver City, whom everyone calls Bubba but doesn’t look like someone whom everyone calls Bubba. ‘The only crime here,’ he added, ‘is like the $18 strawberry at Erewhon,” reports the New York Times
Yes, Culver City actually bought a gun store and they’re turning it into 67 units of affordable housing with a preference for teachers
This episode was produced by Sophie Bridges
The reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA Forward
