So there's this fun little parlor game in Los Angeles politics where everyone acts shocked—shocked!—that a progressive city councilmember might actually be popular.
Nithya Raman, the CD4 rep who unseated a termed-out incumbent back in 2020, keeps showing up in polling that has establishment types reaching for the antacids.
And honestly, watching the hand-wringing is better than anything on streaming right now.
For the uninitiated: Raman represents a chunk of LA that includes Silver Lake, Los Feliz, and parts of the Valley—territory that used to be reliable "moderate Democrat" turf.
Then she won again in 2024, despite a tsunami of dark money and attack ads that portrayed her as the second coming of whatever scares wealthy homeowners the most.
Recent polls—including one from the LA Times and another from a local progressive outfit—have her approval rating hovering in favorable territory while her detractors scramble to explain why.
The usual excuses are flying: "It's just her base," "Polls don't mean anything," "Have you seen her Twitter mentions?" Sure, Jan.
Whatever helps you sleep at night in your rent-controlled craftsman.
The real story isn't the numbers themselves.
LA's political establishment spent millions trying to make Raman a cautionary tale.
Her focus on tenant protections, homelessness services, and refusing to take developer cash apparently resonates with people who actually live in the district—not just the consultants who draw maps of it.
Meanwhile, the "moderate" alternatives keep polling like a wet blanket.
You can almost hear the donor class weeping into their Erewhon smoothies.
Every time a new survey drops, the same pundits write the same hand-wringing columns about "what it means for the city's future." Here's a wild idea: maybe it means voters like someone who shows up and does the job.
Of course, polling is a snapshot, not a prophecy.
LA politics is a contact sport played in quicksand.
But for now, the people insisting Raman is vulnerable are the same ones who insisted she couldn't win the first time.
The bigger takeaway is simpler and way less fun for the consultants: you can't astroturf your way out of a candidate who actually delivers for her constituents.
Final Thoughts
It's a rebuke—to the old playbook, to the dark-money PACs, and to everyone who thought LA was too cynical to notice the difference. **Final take:** If you're still pretending these numbers are meaningless, you're not analyzing politics—you're doing PR for the people who lost.