Indian American Nithya Raman faces DSA rift, Caruso snub and AI ‘impersonation’ fight in LA mayor race
Los Angeles: Indian American Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman is heading into the final week of her challenge to Mayor Karen Bass fighting on three fronts: a split with national socialist leaders over Israel, a high-profile endorsement for her rival and a dispute over an AI-generated voice that mimics her.
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in 2022, said on Monday he would vote for the mayor. “For the love of LA, I must put the past behind me because this election must be about our future…I will be casting my ballot for Mayor Karen Bass,” he said in a video posted on X, CBS Los Angeles reported.
On Raman, Caruso said: “It is not so much about ideology, but about competence.”
Asked by FOX 11 whether his decision was a vote against Raman, he said: “No, it’s a vote for Bass. I’m voting for her because I think she’s going to do a better job than Raman going forward.”
Bass said she was “honored to receive his support”. Raman’s campaign responded to CBS Los Angeles with a link to an earlier endorsement of her by Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
The same day, the Raman campaign filed complaints with the California Fair Political Practices Commission and the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission against Thrive LA, a super PAC backing Bass. The complaints concern a phone line advertised on signs as “Nithya Raman Realty”, where callers hear an AI-generated voice speaking in the first person as Raman.
When FOX 11 called the number, the voice said: “I’m as imaginary as my campaign promises.”
The campaign alleges the line violates state laws on deceptive election media and AI disclosure. The complaints are allegations and have not been ruled on.
“It’s both sad and illegal for Karen Bass’ conservative allies to be cloning Nithya’s voice, manufacturing her words, and hiding who is paying for it, all to deceive voters,” campaign spokesperson Liz Garcia said.
Thrive LA executive director Ana Dahan defended the line. “AI was a tool to express our First Amendment right for political satire,” she told FOX 11. “Nobody would believe it’s a real human being.”
Raman, a city council member, also faces pressure from the national leadership of the Democratic Socialists of America, which Axios described as a “socialist civil war”. DSA’s Los Angeles chapter endorsed her by 937 votes to 484, with 52 abstentions, but national leaders have been weighing whether to revoke that support over her position on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.
Under resolutions approved by DSA’s National Political Committee on Monday, the committee will work with the Los Angeles chapter to organise an October 31 meeting with Raman to assess her position on BDS, the Los Angeles Times reported. If she fails to “provide clear and unequivocal commitments”, the committee will vote on whether to rescind the endorsement, a DSA spokesperson confirmed to the newspaper.
If she has not “expressed support for BDS and condemned weapon shipments out of LAX” by January 1, the committee will move towards “a vote on expelling Nithya Raman”, according to a resolution quoted by the Times.
“We are disappointed that the members of the NPC passed their resolutions without reading the materials we sent them,” DSA-LA co-chair Leslie Chang told the Times.
Raman has stressed her independence, describing her approach to Axios as “sewer socialism” or “pothole politics”. “I just want government to work for the people,” she said.
Polls show her ahead. A September Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times poll put Raman at 39 per cent to Bass’s 28 per cent, with 33 per cent undecided. A Manhattan Institute poll showed her leading 38-32, according to Axios.
Raman was born in India and moved to the US as a child. A win on November 3 would make her the first Indian American mayor of Los Angeles.
