Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman declared herself both a capitalist and a democratic socialist during an interview Friday, raising questions about her political ideology as the Democratic Socialists of America considers challenging her endorsement from the organization just days before the election.
Raman, a Los Angeles city councilwoman and DSA member challenging incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, defended the two labels when Michaelson pressed her about capitalism and the organization’s political positions.
“I am a capitalist, and I’m also a democratic socialist,” she told CNN’s Elex Michaelson. “I want the city to work and when the government is doing its job, it needs to work really effectively, and we need to make sure capitalism works without harm to workers, without worker exploitation, without exploitation of poor people. That’s what I’m going to focus on.”
Los Angeles County Republican Party Chair Roxanne Hoge criticized Raman’s remarks in a statement to Fox News Digital, questioning how the mayoral hopeful could embrace capitalism while maintaining ties to an organization that advocates replacing it.
“It’s no surprise that Nithya Raman is confused by two mutually exclusive concepts. Perhaps she was in a fugue state when she agreed to co-govern with the DSA who proudly proclaim their desire to expropriate private property and to abolish the police,” Hoge said.
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that DSA national leadership was considering action against the Los Angeles chapter’s endorsement of Raman over accusations she doesn’t fully support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel. At a forum last month, according to the LA Times, Raman referred to BDS as a “legitimate form of peaceful protest” without explicitly saying she supports the movement.
Lisa Cusack, president of the Don’t LA My Burbank PAC, criticized Raman’s affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America, pointing to the organization’s communist roots and its current political program advocating greater worker control over private industries.
“The founder of DSA-LA, Dorothy Rea Healey, was a longtime leader of the California Communist Party in California,” she told Fox News Digital. “Her autobiography is titled: ‘A Life in the American Communist Party.’ The current Democrat Socialist Program for Los Angeles states, ‘Capitalists extract massive profits by stealing the surplus value of working-class labor.'”
She claimed the program’s mantra involves organizing to rebuild worker militancy, expanding union density, dismantling the gig economy, and asserting democratic worker control over municipal and private industries.
“This is who Nithya Raman will be expected to co-govern with. When people tell you who they are, believe them,” Hoge said.
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Raman’s remarks contrasted with the DSA’s official description of democratic socialism, which calls for replacing capitalism with an economic system in which workers exercise greater control over businesses and major industries.
The organization explicitly rejects capitalism in its explanation of its political philosophy.
“Capitalism is a system designed by the owning class to exploit the rest of us for their own profit. We must replace it with democratic socialism, a system where ordinary people have a real voice in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and society,” the DSA states on its website.
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Raman’s latest comments also marked a change from how she answered the same question during a July interview with Michaelson. At the time, she declined to directly identify herself as a capitalist, instead emphasizing the existing economic system and the responsibilities of local government.
When Michaelson asked whether she considered herself a capitalist, Raman acknowledged the economic structure under which Los Angeles operates.
“You know, we are in a capitalist system. It’s a city government,” Raman said.
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Michaelson also asked Raman whether she supported abolishing police departments, prisons or the U.S. Senate. She rejected all three proposals. When Michaelson pressed her on how she reconciled her political affiliations with those disagreements, Raman defended the ideological diversity within the organization.
“I don’t, you know, I think democratic socialism is a big tent,” she said. “The DSA is a big tent organization, and I’m in part of that tent and I think a lot of Angelenos are in that tent with me.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the DSA, Raman and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.