“Not voting in the Los Angeles mayoral race is a vote for Nithya Raman.”
That’s the message the LA Police Protective League, many Democrats and even some Republicans are shouting from the rooftops. Everyone admits that Mayor Karen Bass has been a failure, especially with rampant homelessness and her incompetent response to the January 2025 wildfires that wiped out entire neighborhoods — but they see even darker clouds on the horizon.
While she's been far less than great, they warn, there’s a far worse danger facing the city: wild-eyed Democratic socialist Nithya Raman, who’s running neck and neck with Bass in the general election.
The topic has raged on local talk radio, in conversations around town, at crowded private events hosted by heavy hitters, and on social media: should you vote for Bass to stave off an even worse fate? For many, voting for the incompetent incumbent is anathema. For others, it’s a civic duty — hold your nose and do what’s necessary.
In a mailer going around town that was paid for “by Small Businesses, Police Officers, and other First Responders opposed to Nithya Raman for LA Mayor 2026, sponsored by the Los Angeles Police Protective League,” the warning is clear: Nithya will figuratively burn what’s left of LA down to the ground.
She will co-govern with the DSA, the mailer points out:
Raman will continue to co-govern with DSA-LA, whose policy demands are replicated from their website on the following pages.
"What’s the big deal?" you might ask. A California Democrat is a California Democrat — they all stink. True, but there are degrees of suckage, and the flyer warns that in this case, one option is far worse than the other:
“Government seizes privately owned homes.” Wait, that’s worse than just bad policy… that's absolutely terrifying.
But that’s far from the only goal the DSA and Raman are aiming for:
DSA Co-Governance Policy Demands
Government Seizes Privately Owned Homes
“Create new permanently affordable, democratically controlled, social housing and EXPROPRIATE privately owned housing.”Government Seizes Small Businesses
“Build city-owned municipal enterprises and EXPROPRIATE corporations in key industries – such as those that fulfill essential community needs like housing, grocery, restaurants, and internet…”
Think this all sounds like crazy talk? Go check out the “Democratic Socialist Program for Los Angeles" right now. It’s all there. This is what they want — a communist paradise — and they’re not even hiding it. This is who Nithya Raman is, and she could soon be bringing Marxism to the second most populous city in the U.S., just as DSA Mayor Zohran Mamdani is doing right now in New York City.
And so, the argument rages on. Some are promoting writing in former reality star and wildfire victim Spencer Pratt, who ran a terrific campaign but saw his lead evaporate weeks after the election and didn’t make it to the runoff.
The problem? You can’t do that in general municipal elections, according to Los Angeles City Election Code §312(h).
If you do, your ballot will be flagged and “recreated” by a functionary. What could go wrong?
LA, I hate to break it to you, but your chance to vote for common sense came and went back in June.
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) October 14, 2026
You’re getting a commie, now.
Don’t try to write in my name on the ballot. I won’t tell you who to vote for, but there aren’t write-ins allowed, so it might actually get your…
Don’t try to write in my name on the ballot. I won’t tell you who to vote for, but there aren’t write-ins allowed, so it might actually get your ballot rejected.
I encourage you to still vote. Don’t stay home. You don’t have any choice in the mayor’s race, but you still have a governor to pick and lots of taxes and ballot measures to vote on, including voter ID. Choose wisely.
“Who gives a damn?” “California can fall into the ocean, and nobody will care.” “You people deserve what you get.” These are the reactions I get regularly. (I’m assuming the folks who say that are telling the approximately six million Republicans still here to suck it. Nice.)
But did you know that the population of LA County is larger than 40 U.S. states, and the entire 40 million-person Golden State tally is by far the biggest in the country, with Texas coming in second with almost 10 million fewer people? This ain’t your father’s Delaware.
You really think what happens here stays here? Trouble comes quickest to those who refuse to see it coming. Are you at fault for those four long years of misery under Joe Biden?
And so, LA voters are left with a classic case of Dumb and Dumber. I won’t promote either candidate or suggest that people vote for one or the other — but I also won't say that it doesn't matter, which I used to think until recently.
What I will say is that this Nithya Raman character has proven over and over that she’s seriously bad news for any freedom-loving American.
Since my headline started with a twist on Shakespeare, it seems fitting that we should end with one. "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark," said one of Hamlet's guards, Marcellus.
Many things stink in Los Angeles, but could the stench get even worse?
