First, the bad news: Democratic Socialists now control America's two largest cities.
Now, the good news: Los Angeles may not notice the difference. I mean, Angelenos have experienced life under a Fidelita regime for the last four years. Will a Mamdaniite present that much of a difference?
The Hollywood Reporter noted the call from Decision Desk HQ last night, along with the support Nithya Raman got from the city's biggest industry:
Nithya Raman is projected to be the 44th mayor of Los Angeles, according to one outlet, unseating incumbent Karen Bass, a fellow Democrat who struggled with credibility as constituent anger surged over various municipal ills, including housing and affordability, the entertainment production exodus and her response to the Palisades wildfire. A win for the leftist City Councilmember, running as an outsider against the local party machine, would be a significant victory for the region’s progressive movement, which heavily skews toward younger voters who rent instead of owning their homes.
Independent election polling site Decision Desk H.Q., which partners with Ballotpedia, announced it was projecting a Raman victory, though other major entities such as NBC News had yet to call the race. Raman is currently up more than three percent, with nearly three-quarters of expected votes now tallied. The full count may not be in for a week or longer, as any mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day are still valid even if they arrive by early next week.
Indeed, our partners at DDHQ called it last night, although without much fanfare:
Decision Desk HQ projects Nithya Raman wins the CA Los Angeles Mayor Nonpartisan General Election #DecisionMade: 7:49 PM EST Follow live results here: https://t.co/1kpbRZUYUv https://t.co/LHwjhhfjjz
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 5, 2026
How did Raman beat Bass? Clowns had a lot to with it, unsurprisingly:
Through each of her campaigns, Raman, who was born in India and will be the city’s first Asian American mayor, has generated Hollywood support — particularly from its TV comedy scene. Donors to her mayoral race have included Tina Fey, Mike Schur, Mindy Kaling and Cord Jefferson. She’s married to Vali Chandrasekaran, a writer-producer who has worked on 30 Rock, Modern Family, My Name is Earl and The Four Seasons. (They have twin 10-year-old children.)
During their campaigns, both candidates said they’d back unlimited film and TV credits at the state level, and champion a federal tax incentive to make the U.S. more internationally competitive. Raman has attacked Bass’ handling of the issue, including her tardiness in appointing a film liaison to the industry. Still, despite her closeness to the industry, Raman’s record of advocating for Hollywood’s needs has been called into question, even as the city and state continued to experience its historic runaway production. (The effects of the entertainment free fall have been felt across the local economy.)
In office, Raman’s key policy focus has been on housing, first championing Measure ULA, known as the “Mansion Tax,” then criticizing the unintended consequences of the legislation once its ruinous impact on apartment construction became clear. She’s since pushed for reform. (The issue has been a recurring subplot on Netflix’s real-life drama about L.A. real estate, Selling Sunset.)
Angelenos really had a great choice here, eh? Thanks to California's all-in primary, voters had to choose between the modern-day Nero who fiddled in Ghana while Los Angeles burned, or the queen of unintended consequences from her own policies. Either way, Los Angeles voters have signed up for another four years of socialist incompetence, social disintegration, and performative virtue signaling over rational policy and prosperity.
The clown shows beget clown shows. Film at 11, as the lead-in for Kimmel Live!
One can claim with some justification that Angelenos are experiencing democracy in the H.L. Mencken context: they are getting the governance they chose, good and hard. However, the system built by California Democrats to protect California Democrats – the all-in/jungle primary – left them without much choice, and for that matter, so did the all-but-defunct California Republican Party. The only other option in the primary was the charismatic reality-TV star Spencer Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades fire that resulted from Bass' incompetence and AWOL leadership. Pratt turned out to be more substantive than first thought and a good campaigner, but he didn't have the credibility or organizing structure to effectively compete against the Lenin Sisters.
As one Angeleno lamented to me a couple of weeks ago, where was Rick Caruso? Where were established Republican figures with proper support in the primaries? The GOP and rational Democrat moderates abandoned the field, which left Angelenos without any real choice between the Venceremos Brigade member and the DSA Marxist on the city council.
At least in Minnesota, the GOP gave voters credible and serious candidates in their statewide elections for governor, Senate, and Attorney General. Those voters deserve what they chose when given the opportunity to end the fraud-ridden Democrat establishment.
Angelenos just got screwed instead, thanks to Hollywood and the retreat of the rational from the battlefield. And given what we just witnessed in the rest of the country, it won't get any better four years from now in my old hometown.
Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has been infected by socialism, and it's spreading FAST. Democrats are claiming there's nothing to worry about, but we know the truth.
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