Episode Details

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.

Become a paid subscriber at thinkforward.la to keep this podcast weekly. A fun gathering exclusively for paid subscribers with LA Pod co-hosts and producers is coming up Saturday, March 21!

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