ted marsden

below you see Michael, the least reliable narrator in LA (and someone @DavidZahniser should stop calling for quotes), was unable to keep it real during the election so it's not shocking he's full of shit today. Nithya won for three reasons: 1. Karen lost the race by not being able to overcome her own downfalls as mayor (rubber stamping anything the police asked for, not being able to get Trump to release fire aid funds or stop it with ICE, not fulfilling her promise about homelessness, being shady about bypassing @lacontroller's audits, and being a Mean Girl by taking Nithya off the homeless committee once she had the audacity to run for mayor.) 2. Instead of running on her decades of experience in politics, she went negative with lame ass Twitter accounts like @noshownithya and her favorite "influencers." Karen knows that tactic didn't work when @RickCarusoLA used them on her, but she got amnesia and tried them on Nithya. LA doesn't work that way. 3. LA wanted a change and Nithya was that fresh voice. LA rarely cares about who the LAPD endorses, and most Angelenos can barely name their own CM so when zero of them backed Nithya it seemed like more sour grapes than anything she did wrong. PLUS she had @kennethmejiaLA on her side, who Angelenos *do* know and respect. Bonus #1: When @spencerpratt appeared more afraid of Nithya than Karen in the first debate and later through the year, that probably swayed Independent Angelenos, who are clearly more liberal than people give us credit for, thought, "oh, Republicans don't like her? Then I do." Bonus #2: DSA Drama. DSA-LA is not a powerful operation and was a mess this year. Lots of voters are unsure who DSA is and don't really want to take chances right now. So when the three DSA CMs turned their backs on Nithya, coupled with the national DSA trying to expel her, it made her seem like a safe DSA person. Socialist enough, but not an extremist. This may have gotten her just enough of the Independents to get it over the line. The only advice I have for @nithyavraman other than ignore Michael, ignore Traci Park, ignore @CD13LosAngeles, is to pay attention to what the voters of LA just said in the ballot box which echoed what happened across the nation: Floor it. Push the envelope. Bring City Hall more to the Left than it feels comfortable being. The fact that zero people in City Hall endorsed you (other than Kenneth) proves that City Hall is out of touch with the voters of LA. Lead them out of their darkness. Start by removing Trump's star from the Walk of Fame.