The Rise of a New Socialist Star in LA
Los Angeles didn’t ask for a sequel to the New York City socialist revolution—yet here we are, popcorn in hand, watching the West Coast version unfold. Karen Bass, once praised as the Democratic establishment’s “steady hand,” now finds herself being outflanked by her very own party’s radical wing. Enter Rae Huang, a 43-year-old community organizer, minister, and enthusiastic member of the Democratic Socialists of America—because apparently, LA wasn’t progressive enough already. This is the story of how Bass, a former Obama favorite, is suddenly the “moderate” in the race. Yes, you heard that right: Karen Bass is now the centrist of Los Angeles. Welcome to 2025.
Who Is Rae Huang and Why Is She Coming for Bass?
Huang is the Karen Bass socialist challenger the Left didn’t know it needed but suddenly can’t stop talking about. With two decades of social justice organizing and a résumé that reads like a Berkeley admissions essay, she claims she’s running to “serve God through social justice work.” Her platform? Universal housing, free transportation, climate resiliency, no corporate money, and sticking it to the “billionaire class.” In other words: everything that already isn’t working in LA, but supercharged.
The “Mamdani Effect” Comes to Los Angeles
If Rae Huang sounds a lot like Zohran Mamdani in New York, that’s because she is. The same formula: young, charismatic, activist-driven, DSA-backed, and itching to dismantle whatever remains of the Democratic Party’s establishment wing. And just like in New York, where the socialist wave knocked over the entire power structure, LA is now bracing for its own mini-revolution. Huang won’t say she wants to copy Mamdani—but she definitely wants that DSA endorsement. And we all know how that movie ends.
Karen Bass: Suddenly Too Moderate for Her Own Party
Remember when Karen Bass was floated as a top VP pick for Biden? Remember when Obama called her “outstanding”? Well, that Karen Bass is apparently too conservative for LA’s hard-left activists. Despite declining homelessness for two years, major fire recovery efforts, crime reductions, and fighting off Trump’s ICE raids in court, she’s now being painted as an obstacle to “true progress.” When Bass is considered the moderate, you know the ideological pendulum has swung completely off the hinge.
Huang’s Pitch: Everything Free, Nothing Explained
As the Karen Bass socialist challenger, Huang is selling voters a bold fantasy:
Free housing.
Free Metro.
Free climate utopia.
Free everything except the part where taxpayers get the bill.
And she’s doing it with the kind of earnest sincerity only a DSA candidate has: “It’s time we challenge the billionaire class!” Translation: let’s raise taxes on everything, force out businesses, and then wonder why the city budget collapses faster than a Venice Beach tent in a windstorm.
Bass’s Response: “I Actually Run a City, Thanks”
Bass’s spokesperson fired back politely, but the message was clear: Los Angeles is actually better than people give it credit for, and no, you don’t fix homelessness by handing the keys to someone who’s never held office. Bass’s team highlighted declining homelessness, lower crime, and fire recovery successes—not exactly things voters associate with the word “failed.” But in 2025, successful governance is apparently the enemy, especially if you’re the Karen Bass socialist challenger trying to claim the establishment hasn’t done enough.
The Problem for Democrats: Their Civil War Is Happening in Public
This isn’t Republican vs. Democrat.
This isn’t Left vs. Right.
This is Left vs. Even-Leftier Left, a showdown between the activists and the establishment.
Cities like Seattle, New York, Minneapolis—they’re already flipping to socialist-backed candidates. Now LA is next. The Democratic Party spent years empowering these movements, encouraging radical rhetoric, and pushing the Overton Window off the Santa Monica Pier. Now, the monster they built is taking their jobs.
Will LA Actually Elect Another Socialist? Don’t Bet Against It.
Los Angeles voters have already shown they’re perfectly willing to experiment with ideas that sound great in theory but fall apart faster than a taxpayer-funded pilot program. If Seattle can elect a socialist mayor while their downtown looks like a live-action apocalypse movie, who’s to say LA won’t try it too? Huang may be “the challenger,” but the political weather in progressive cities has shifted dramatically. These races are no longer long shots. They’re warning shots.
What’s Really at Stake: The Future of Big City Governance
This race is more than Bass vs. Huang.
It’s establishment vs. revolution.
Governance vs. activism.
Real-world outcomes vs. ideological purity.
If Huang wins, LA becomes the largest laboratory for democratic socialism in the country. If Bass wins, the Left blames capitalism, billionaires, and probably Trump—because blaming Trump is standard boilerplate language at this point.
One Thing Is Certain: LA Politics Just Got Even More Chaotic
In a city already drowning in homelessness, crime, taxes, traffic, and political dysfunction, the last thing anyone expected was a socialist uprising aimed at ousting… Karen Bass. Yet here we are. Grab your popcorn, folks. This race will be a case study for the ages. And as always, normal people outside LA will watch it like a disaster movie: fascinating, horrifying, and absolutely not something they’d ever want in their own city.
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