Democratic Socialists of America candidates are winning big in Southern California

The midterm elections saw a “blue tsunami” nationwide with a wave of wins for Democrats — but there’s been a deeper undercurrent locally with candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Los Angeles chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA-LA, endorsed nine candidates this past election.

Seven of those candidates are winning their races, including in Los Angeles, Burbank, West Hollywood and Inglewood. Another candidate secured an appointment on a South Bay school district board and the last race in L.A. City Council District 9 is still too close to call.

Tom Hogen-Esch, a professor of political science at California State University, Northridge, told LAist that with more people entering the bloodstream of local politics in L.A., the region is going to get a more representative electorate that includes a lot of younger voters and renters, for example, which he expects to have had a big impact on election night.

“I think we've entered a new era in L.A. politics where owners of single-family properties — these high propensity voters — are no longer calling the shots anymore,” he said.

However, he said he thinks it’s way too soon to expect any kind of radical populist and socialist-leaning policies in the city.

“I wouldn't expect a revolution from [Raman’s] time as mayor.”

Here’s what we know about how DSA’s influence is shaking out in L.A. and Orange counties.

L.A. County

It was basically a DSA sweep for the biggest Los Angeles city contests.

Nithya Raman will be the next mayor, and Marissa Roy won her city attorney race by a landslide. City Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez in District 1 and Hugo Soto-Martínez in District 13 also won their races outright in the primary.

Burbank is about to have a DSA-majority City Council, which the local chapter said is the “first one ever on the West Coast.”

The DSA members up for election, Mike Van Gorder and Nolan Southerland, are in second and third out of 13 candidates. Van Gorder and Southerland will join current Councilmember Konstantine Anthony to make up the DSA majority on the five-member council.

Angela Gonzales-Torres unseated incumbent Jimmy Gomez in the race for the 34th Congressional District, which includes downtown L.A., Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock and Koreatown. The Highland Park local will be a newcomer to Capitol Hill.

In West Hollywood, public safety commissioner Stephen Post is landing in third out of 14 candidates running for City Council, on track to secure his seat in the chamber.

In the race for Inglewood Unified School District Board of Education, Trustee Area 3, Yaritza González, a policy manager at the Central American Resource Center, has earned more than double the number of votes of her challenger. For the Centinela Valley Union High School District Board, current school board member Estefany Castañeda was the only candidate on the ballot, earning an appointment to Trustee Area 5.

Orange County

The Orange County chapter made four endorsements in the general election for races in Santa Ana and Irvine.

Councilmember Benjamin Vazquez was running for reelection in Santa Ana City Council Ward 2. He’s winning with more than 74% as of Wednesday, ahead of his challenger by about 4,000 votes.

In Ward 4, DSA-OC endorsed immigrant rights advocate Sandra De Anda. She’s also winning her race at the time of publication, ahead of incumbent Phil Bacerra with 57.5% of the vote.

In Ward 6, Isuri S. Ramos, chair of the Santa Ana Planning Commission, earned the chapter’s endorsement. She was winning with more than 59% of the vote.

Last but not least, it endorsed Measure D in Irvine, which would introduce ranked-choice voting for City Council and mayoral races starting in 2028. As of Wednesday evening, it was passing with a little over 53% of the vote, a margin of about 5,000 vote