Choosing between Karen Bass, mayor of Los Angeles, and city councilwoman Nithya Raman, her erstwhile ally turned challenger, is a toss-up for pro-Israel voters, according to Dan Schnur, a political-science lecturer at Pepperdine University, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley.
Both “should be considered to be strong supporters of Israel,” Schnur told JNS. “This becomes a shades of gray decision for pro-Israel voters as opposed to a more stark contrast.”
“Bass has been a reliable ally for years, and Raman’s willingness to stand up to the Democratic Socialists of America on the Gaza war should earn her significant credit,” he said.
The professor thinks that Raman “still has some baggage” as far as the Jewish community is concerned, since the councilwoman introduced a ceasefire resolution.
She also opposes efforts to boycott Israel but supports free speech rights to engage in boycotts broadly, which “reflects Democratic mainstream thinking at this point,” he said. “It’s not ideal, but it’s the landscape on which we now live.”
Schnur thinks that Raman will be a tougher candidate for Bass than was businessman Rick Caruso, whom Bass defeated in the 2022 mayoral race. (JNS sought comment from Bass and Raman.)
“Four years ago, Bass tied Caruso to Donald Trump and effectively used the abortion issue against him,” he said. “She won’t be able to do that against an opponent who comes at her from the left and not the right.”
Jared Sclar, a Democratic political consultant in San Diego, told JNS that “Jewish voters tend to evaluate candidates based on patterns of conduct over time, especially when it comes to antisemitism and Israel, rather than labels or isolated gestures.”
“The ceasefire resolution Raman helped introduce called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the return of hostages and expanded humanitarian aid,” he said. “It has been sharply criticized by major Jewish organizations for failing to recognize the threat that Hamas poses and for its framing of the conflict.”
Her efforts to “distance herself from national DSA rhetoric do not meaningfully offset that record for many Jewish voters,” Sclar said.
“In a mayoral race where trust and judgment matter, this is likely to be a defining issue for much of the LA Jewish community,” he added. “Because of this, she is unlikely to have any significant amount of support from within the community.”
Sam Markstein, national political director at the Republican Jewish Coalition, told JNS that “Democratic primary voters in Los Angeles now have the misfortune of having to choose between total incompetence in Mayor Bass and radicalism in Ms. Raman.”
“Either way, the people of California’s biggest city will continue to suffer,” he said.
Raman stated on Saturday that the city is at a “breaking point” and needs a “mayor who will take responsibility for the whole system, who will demand accountability from departments, who will prepare for emergencies before they happen, who will communicate honestly when things go wrong and who will fix what fails.”
She received support in 2020 from the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter when she ran for City Council. A few days after Oct. 7, she criticized the national Democratic Socialists of America’s statement that the attacks were “a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.”
The Democratic Socialists of America “failed to reckon with the horrors committed by Hamas and was unacceptably devoid of empathy for communities in Israel and at home who are living in fear and mourning,” she stated.
Raman stated in a Democrats for Israel-Los Angeles questionnaire that she doesn’t support the movement to boycott Israel, supports Israel’s right to exist and thinks that “how one chooses to spend their money or peacefully engage in political activity is protected by the First Amendment,” the Los Angeles Jewish Journal reported in 2020.
In February 2024, the local DSA chapter censured Raman but said that it still endorsed her, because “she has called for a permanent ceasefire and has acknowledged the violence and death suffered by Palestinians in council chambers.”
Raman and two other city council members introduced a resolution in June 2024 calling for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, including “immediate and unconditional return of all hostages and the safe and immediate passage of unhindered humanitarian aid and medical care to Gaza.”
The resolution also stated that “the city will not tolerate any form of harmful and racist language, especially antisemitic, anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic hate speech toward anyone.”
The primary is scheduled for June 2. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, there would be a runoff in November.
Other reported candidates are former MTV reality-television star Spencer Pratt—whose home burned down in the Palisades fire—tech entrepreneur Adam Miller and Presbyterian minister Rae Huang, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
