The Democrat Party of Los Angeles has taken a stand—no prison, no prosecutions, hate of white people and Jews. They now openly support Hamas terrorism. The support the closing of streets and freeways by Hamas supporters. How do we know? Look at who they endorsed.
“And there lies the reality that 3.1 million members of LACDP would have to come to terms with: LACDP’s recent decision to align closely with the DSA raises questions about its departure from moderate positions and moving towards the fringes of the Democratic party. With the future of the Democratic party in Los Angeles in the hands of DSA candidates such as Ms. Raman and Ms. Hernandez, LACDP appears on its way to becoming indistinguishable from the DSA.
Democrat Socialism is actually communism—but they know that will not sell—so they lie about their name while killing off freedom. Too bad the LAGOP is so irrelevant that no one cares about their closed door meetings and anti-Republican Chair.
Column: Moderate Democrats Not Welcomed in LA County Dems Party, Vote Confirms
Westside Current Editorial Board, 12/20/23 https://www.westsidecurrent.com/opinion/column-moderate-democrats-not-welcomed-in-la-county-dems-party-vote-confirms/article_049416f6-9ebc-11ee-9c3b-b70e4188dd71.html?utm_source=westsidecurrent.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter%2Foptimize%2Fdaily-headlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1703086210&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
LOS ANGELES – Last week, in a surprising move, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party (LACDP), representing 3.1 million members, unexpectedly endorsed councilmember Nithya Raman for City Council District 4 and George Gascon for District Attorney.
What seems to be an ordinary party vote was more controversial than it appears. After all, absent any serious flaws in a candidate, the party typically endorses the incumbent. That’s exactly what LACDP did in 2020 when its Central Committee members endorsed David Ryu over the Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) backed candidate Nithya Raman.
But this time, the Candidate Interview Committee (CIC), a 25-member group that “conducts candidate endorsement recommendation process (i.e., candidate questionnaires and interviews)”[1] overwhelmingly endorsed Ms. Raman’s challenger Ethan Weaver, giving him 62% of the CIC vote. Only 9.5% of the CIC voted for Ms. Raman.
Yet in the end, it was Ms. Raman, a DSA-backed candidate, who scored the LACDP Central Committee endorsement – overriding CIC, even though they are specifically tasked with identifying the best candidate, presumably on the grounds of electability and compatibility with the Democratic party values.
| LA County Dems Party’s Central Committee Vote Tally: 204 Total Votes; needed for 60% or 120 votes to earn the party’s endorsement. This vote contrasted with CIC’s overwhelming vote for Ethan Weaver. | |
| Abstain | 5 votes |
| Raman | 146 votes |
| Weaver | 49 votes |
| No endorsement | 4 votes |
| Total | 204 votes |
Reactions poured in. In one long tweet, former CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin, a Raman supporter who was nearly recalled during his second term in office, pointed out that the endorsement committee “had several members that were part of a failed attempt earlier in the year by party moderates to take over the state party’s Progressive Caucus.”
Mr. Bonin also stated that “in 2022, the LA County party stuck with familiar faces,” and failed to endorse DSA-backed candidates, including an opponent of anti-camping laws protecting libraries, seniors centers and schools from encampments, Hugo Soto-Martinez, a self-declared socialist Eunisses Hernandez, and a vocal defund the police controller candidate, Kenneth Mejia and it was “shocking that the party even entertained the idea of not backing Raman.”
And there lies the reality that 3.1 million members of LACDP would have to come to terms with: LACDP’s recent decision to align closely with the DSA raises questions about its departure from moderate positions and moving towards the fringes of the Democratic party. With the future of the Democratic party in Los Angeles in the hands of DSA candidates such as Ms. Raman and Ms. Hernandez, LACDP appears on its way to becoming indistinguishable from the DSA.
Mike Bonin and the rest of the radical wing of LACDP were not the only ones who emerged victorious.
Mayor Bass
Mayor Karen Bass demonstrated her absolute control over the party. Since her election, Mayor Karen Bass has worked across a wide spectrum of ideologies in the Democratic party in Los Angeles. She has appeared a number of times in Venice, working hand in hand with councilmember Traci Park to address encampments in CD11, criticized housing first policy as the only way to address homelessness, and backed an increase in LAPD budget much to dismay of the DSA-backed candidates: councilmembers Martinez, Hernandez, and Raman who voted against the raise. Yet, on the eve of LACDP endorsement vote, Mayor Bass wrote a letter pushing for the endorsement of Ms. Raman. And LACDP followed her lead.
This level of influence shows Mayor Bass’ willingness to exert her control over the party, even if it is politically unpopular. Ms. Raman is facing a tough challenge in the Valley, an area where Mayor Bass lost by a significant margin to Rick Caruso. It remains to be seen whether Mayor Bass’ not so covert effort to earn an endorsement for Ms. Raman, the first notable candidate backed by DSA who won a city-wide election in 2020 will prove to have a positive or negative impact on the race’s outcome for Ms. Raman.
Final Word
Neither Ms. Raman nor George Gascon have lost the backing of the DSA since they took office three years ago. Neither have denounced their DSA backing, in light of recent antisemitic gestures coming out of DSA and its subchapters. DSA-LA, the local chapter of the national organization, continues to canvas for Ms. Raman, which shows she has not moderated her stance on her fringe policies since taking office.
LACDP’s tacit alignment with DSA shows that the significant number of moderate members of the party will be hard-pressed to continue calling LACDP home. While it remains to be seen how much weight voters will put on the party’s endorsement, this race to the fringes hurts the party’s credibility and leaves moderates on their own.
