From The New Yorker · Benjamin Wallace-Wells · · 3m
How the D.S.A. Learned to Love Elections
D.S.A. members in Los Angeles endorse Nithya Raman for mayor after internal debate over socialist ideology.
In brief
D.S.A. members in Los Angeles endorse Nithya Raman for mayor after internal debate over socialist ideology. D.S.A. members in Los Angeles endorse Nithya Raman for mayor after internal debate over socialist ideology. Originally reported by The New Yorker.
Rafael Jaime prepares for D.S.A. endorsement vote
Rafael Jaime, a thirty-seven-year-old U.C.L.A. Ph.D. candidate, counts five hundred and forty-one registered D.S.A. members in L.A. to persuade them to endorse Nithya Raman for mayor.
D.S.A. is small but influential
The D.S.A. has just under one hundred and thirty thousand members, a hundred and twenty-three D.S.A.-backed candidates won primaries since 2025, including nineteen for Congress.
D.S.A. internal conflict over Nithya Raman
The Socialist Majority Caucus and Groundwork caucus disagree on whether Nithya Raman, a housing advocate, is a socialist, with Groundwork claiming she dissembles on socialist ideology.
Groundwork claims Raman dissembles on socialism
Groundwork argues Raman, who joined D.S.A. in 2019, does not believe in socialism as an ideology, method of analysis, or political movement.
D.S.A. endorsement vote results
Raman won sixty-six percent of the L.A. chapter’s vote for endorsement, securing the D.S.A.’s first mayoral candidate.
Rafael Jaime’s background
Jaime, a U.C.L.A. Ph.D. candidate, leads a union representing sixty thousand higher-education workers across the University of California system.
Keshav Kundassery’s perspective
Keshav Kundassery, an M.D.-Ph.D. student, believes the D.S.A. must shed ideological purity to become a mass socialist party electing officials.
D.S.A. members’ political identity
D.S.A. members are often described as 'downwardly mobile' or 'the precariat,' but Jaime and Kundassery have stable careers and ambitions.
D.S.A. electoral strategy
The D.S.A. targets districts where Sanders performed well and where there is a large base of renters to build political influence.
Zohran Mamdani’s impact
Zohran Mamdani, a D.S.A. member elected mayor of New York in 2025, inspired a wave of D.S.A.-backed candidates winning primaries.
Nithya Raman’s campaign
Nithya Raman, a housing advocate, ran for city council after organizing East L.A. residents concerned about homelessness and was endorsed by the D.S.A.
D.S.A. internal debate on Raman
The Socialist Majority Caucus and Groundwork caucus debated whether Raman, a housing advocate, is a socialist, with Groundwork claiming she dissembles on socialist ideology.
D.S.A. endorsement vote outcome
Raman won sixty-six percent of the L.A. chapter’s vote for endorsement, securing the D.S.A.’s first mayoral candidate.
D.S.A. members’ optimism
D.S.A. members in Los Angeles believe they can transform politics in the city, with Raman as their first mayoral candidate.
D.S.A. national growth
The D.S.A. gained forty thousand members nationwide in the year since Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York.
D.S.A. electoral strategy in action
D.S.A. members organized patrols of Home Depot parking lots to observe and report ICE activity during the 2025 wildfires.
Here's the gist
D.S.A. members in Los Angeles endorse Nithya Raman for mayor after internal debate over socialist ideology.
