Endorsements of Candidates for Public Office
When DSA endorses a candidate, we dedicate a significant amount of chapter resources and organizer time to winning an election. That’s why we do not endorse a candidate unless our members agree to be a significant part of that candidate’s campaign.
As a member organization with limited time and resources, this means we must be deliberate in the candidate endorsements we do issue. DSA-LA will not endorse candidates in the majority of elections across Los Angeles County, because for us endorsing a candidate is about more than identifying values alignment. An endorsement from us means we are choosing to link arms and work to win public office with our endorsed candidate.
DSA-LA is considering whether to endorse Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, who is running for State Assembly District 64, and Konstantine Anthony, who is running for Burbank City Council. Both candidates have passed through a consideration process and responded to extensive written questionnaires with DSA-LA’s Electoral Politics Committee.
Voting is open now through August 3 at 9:00am for all DSA-LA members in good standing on whether to endorse Fatima and/or Konstantine. Online voting links were emailed to all members in good standing at 9:00am on July 26 at the email address linked to your membership.
Click here to watch a recording of our July 25 Q&A session and member debate.
Click here to submit a member statement for or against either candidate.
Click here to read more about Fatima Iqbal-Zubair.
Click here to read more about Konstantine Anthony.
Current Candidate Endorsements
Nithya Raman for Los Angeles City Council District 4
As a candidate, Nithya has a deep history of political activism that aligns very closely with the values of DSA-LA. Between her work advocating for the urban poor in Chennai and her work helping to build the homeless advocacy group SELAH here in LA, she has first hand experience working on exactly the kinds of issues that our organization has historically prioritized. And in this campaign, she has been vocal about her support for a Green New Deal for Los Angeles, which would combine expanded public transit, improved services for the unhoused, stronger tenant protections, and reduced focus in the city budget for the LAPD.
As for the race itself, Nithya is challenging the incumbent David Ryu, who can safely be described by the Left as “an establishment Democrat.” Much as he likes to describe himself as a progressive figure, he has in the past voted in favor of measures that would lead to the effective criminalization of homelessness and voted against measures that would improve sustainable transit infrastructure, such as bike lanes. There are other challengers in the race, but due to the jungle primary system, we can safely focus on simply coming in second place on March 3rd, which is a realistic and attainable goal. And due to the success of Bernie Sanders in many CD4 voting precincts in 2016, the majority of residents being renters, and the high concentration of DSA members, the district is geographically very favorable to Nithya’s candidacy and potential DSA-aligned candidates in general.
Nithya received DSA-LA’s endorsement on December 18, 2019. The primary election is on March 3, 2020.