On Sunday, September 20, days after the union representing 8,700 Los Angeles police officers warned voters that mayoral candidate Nithya Raman had a hidden agenda for City Hall, Raman was asked one plain question: would she work with the Democratic Socialists of America if she becomes mayor? Her answer, as reported by the New York Post: “With everyone, with everyone. Yes.”
Story Snapshot
- The Los Angeles Police Protective League accused Raman of a “secret” DSA-aligned plan for the city, calling the group’s backers “wolves masquerading as sheep.”
- Asked whether she would work with the DSA as mayor, Raman said she would, with everyone.
- She called the DSA “a partner” and said she will “continue to welcome their partnership.”
- The DSA’s Los Angeles chapter endorsed her on September 2 and pledged volunteers, canvassers and organizational resources.
Where This Stands Right Now
The police union’s warning landed on September 18 with an attack ad and a written accusation that Raman would govern hand in hand with the DSA. The union’s language was blunt: it described a “secret plot” and “wolves masquerading as sheep.” Two days later, Raman did not push the group away. “I see the DSA as a partner for a lot of the work that we’ve done,” she said, adding, “I will continue to welcome their partnership and will always work alongside organizations that are active in Los Angeles and are trying to shape the city.” Asked directly whether that meant working with the DSA in the mayor’s office, she answered, “With everyone, with everyone. Yes.”
Cops fear secret Nithya Raman plot for Los Angeles after she becomes mayor: ‘Wolves masquerading as sheep’.
— CJ4America2 (@GrammyC4Zone2) September 21, 2026
What the union says is coming
The Los Angeles Police Protective League represents 8,700 LAPD officers and has a direct stake in what the next mayor does about police budgets, jails and encampments. Its message tied Raman to the DSA platform, which the union says includes cutting police funding, closing jails and decriminalizing drug use. The union’s ads have also gone after her record on homelessness and encampments. For a union in the middle of a mayor’s race, this is the sharpest kind of message it can send: that a candidate’s allies, not the candidate, would be setting policy after the election.
What Raman’s record shows
Raman has never hidden the tie. The Los Angeles Times reported on September 2 that the DSA’s Los Angeles chapter endorsed her and that she had passed major legislation the group supported, including stronger renter protections and the first reform of the city’s rent stabilization rules in decades. The endorsement commits the DSA to supplying volunteers, canvassers and organizational resources to her campaign. Raman’s own framing is that the DSA is one member of a broad coalition, and that she works with “everyone.” Her critics read the same facts as a candidate telling voters, in her own words, exactly who will have a seat at the table.
What is proved, and what is not
The record proves the endorsement, the resource pledge, and Raman’s stated willingness to keep working with the DSA as mayor. It does not include a leaked memo, a co-governing agreement, or written instructions for what happens after a win; the “secret plan” charge rests on ideology and history rather than a document. That distinction matters less to voters than it does to fact-checkers. When a police union says a candidate has a hidden agenda and the candidate answers by saying she will work with the group in question, the two sides are describing the same partnership in different words. Ballots go out soon, and Los Angeles voters will decide which description they believe.
Sources:
nypost.com, nypost.com, mynewsla.com, latimes.com
