Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned Sunday that rival DSA candidate Nithya Raman would plunge the city into chaos, drive LAPD officers out of the department and potentially invite federal intervention as the city prepares to host the 2028 Olympics.
With just two days until Election Day, Bass sounded the alarm after casting her ballot alongside her adult children and grandson at the Anderson Munger Family YMCA in Koreatown.
Bass painted a grim picture when asked by the California Post what four years under Raman would look like.
“I think four years under Nithya Raman would present a tremendous amount of chaos,” Bass told The Post. “It would be chaos from day one.”
The mayor zeroed in on Raman’s pledge to replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, warning that removing the city’s top cop could trigger an exodus from an already understaffed department.
“I don’t think she has a clue what it takes to get a police chief for the nation’s second-largest city,” Bass said.
“The minute she would initiate that, you will have officers leaving the department, and confusion sets in anytime they’re gonna sit around and wait to see who is going to lead them.”
Raman has pledged to replace McDonnell, criticizing his handling of protests and federal immigration enforcement, although her timeline has shifted.
Bass raised the possibility that upheaval at the LAPD could invite unwanted intervention from Washington ahead of the Olympics.
“I can only imagine Washington looking at that and saying, ‘These people can’t manage it. We need to come in,’” Bass said. “Los Angeles can manage Los Angeles.”
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file LA cops, delivered just as harsh of a warning about Raman’s candidacy on Sunday.
“Los Angeles will become a Petri dish for every crackpot socialist idea that has failed time and again throughout history,” LAPPL Vice President Sgt. Chris Wecker told The Post.
“It’s anyone’s guess what Ms. Raman actually believes in other than fewer police officers, homeless camps next to schools, daycares and parks and co-governing with the DSA in pursuit of their radical agenda to seize private homes and businesses.”
“Los Angeles has a clear choice to make on Tuesday, let’s pray they don’t choose Loony Tunes,” Wecker added.
The warnings echoed Bass’s message during an exclusive interview with The Post on Friday, when she laid out plans to rebuild the LAPD to 9,500 officers by the 2028 Olympics and overhaul the city’s troubled homelessness system.
“I knew the system was broken, but how profoundly broken it was, I did not know,” Bass told The Post.
Bass also attacked Raman’s affordable housing record, claiming her district ranked 14th among the city’s 15 council districts for affordable housing production.
She contrasted that with plans to complete 47,000 housing units currently in the development pipeline over the next four years.
Despite the bruising campaign, Bass said momentum was shifting her way.
“I don’t take anything for granted, but I can tell you that I think the undecideds have begun to shift,” she said.
“We’re at a crossroads, and the question is: Do we move forward or do we begin experimenting with our city?”
The Post contacted Raman’s campaign for comment and is yet to hear back.
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