The problem with Nithya Raman’s campaign perfectly captured in election night party photos

Nithya Raman’s mayoral campaign was supposed to be Los Angeles’ answer to Zohran Mamdani’s socialist uprising in New York City.

Instead, the city councilwoman’s election night party may have perfectly captured why her campaign fizzled.

Photos from Raman’s Tuesday night watch party at Boomtown Brewery in Downtown Los Angeles showed supporters dancing, cheering and chanting her name — even as early returns showed the far-left candidate falling behind Mayor Karen Bass and reality TV star-turned-political candidate Spencer Pratt.

Comedian Adam Conover was among the supporters seen dancing at the party, where the mood appeared more like a progressive happy hour than a political earthquake.

That was exactly the problem, according to Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano, who wrote that the scene at the function showed why Raman’s chances of becoming the city’s next mayor “were slim from the start.”

“The gathering felt like happy hour at a Silver Lake bar: far whiter than the city overall, with few Latinos,” Arellano wrote.

He added that Raman’s remarks to the packed room amounted to a “a grab bag of platitudes mixed with broadside against MAGA” — a message he dismissed as “a political nothing in LA politics.”

The criticism cut to the heart of Raman’s failed pitch: Her campaign appeared aimed at national progressive anxieties rather the daily frustrations consuming Los Angeles voters over homelessness, crime, affordability and City Hall dysfunction.

Raman entered the race late, stunning city political observers after previously backing Bass.

The Democratic Socialists of America-aligned councilmember was touted by some left-wing supports as Los Angeles’ version of Mamdani, whose campaign in New York drew national attention and energized progressive supporters.

But Raman never managed to build the same kind of citywide movement.

While Pratt’s campaign leaned hard into voter anger over the Palisades Fire, homelessness and the city’s quality-of-life-crisis, Raman’s pitch struggled to break through beyond her core base of progressive supporters.

Conover had endorsed Raman in the primary, arguing that voting for the socialist councilmember was the only way to stop Spencer Pratt from going to November runoff.

The Times’ wrote that her election night speech was “uninspiring” and reflected a campaign that was not “apocalyptic enough” for voters demanding radical change — while offering “nothing new” for Bass supporters.

The photos from the party showed a similar story.

Supporters danced and cheered as Raman spoke to the crowd, but the candidate later become emotional while thanking the room and addressing her children.

“I hope you know that everything, every person in this room is fighting for in this campaign has been about building a city that’s worthy of you, and every child in this city,” Raman said, choking back tears.

The latest ballot count Wednesday afternoon did little to change the shape of her race.

Bass remained firmly in first place, inched up from 34.7% to 34.9%, while Pratt slipped from 30.44% to 29.91%, according to the Associated Press.

Raman gained only modest ground, rising from 22.32% to 22.81% — still leaving her roughly 7 points behind Pratt in the fight for the second runoff spot.

As results stood Wednesday afternoon, Bass had solidified her place in the November runoff, while Pratt continued to hold a sizable lead over Raman for the second spot.

Raman’s disappointing showing came after a rocky campaign that included scrutiny over her handling of homelessness as chair of the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee.

The California Post previously reported that Raman had missed five consecutive meetings of the committee while more than 130 items accumulated on the agenda.

Her campaign was also undercut by Rae Huang, another left-wing candidate who drew support from some DSA voters and earned about 3$ of the vote.

Raman has not conceded, and election analysts have warned the race could tighten as California’s notoriously long voting process — due in major part to its astounding number of mail-in ballots that take a virtual lifetime to count.

But the stagnant update — and images from her own election night party — suggested her campaign’s biggest problem was never the lack of enthusiasm from her supporters.

It was that the enthusiasm never seemed to stretch far beyond them.

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