{"text":[[{"start":7.96,"text":"Nithya Raman has defeated Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass in a striking victory for progressives that will see members from the Democratic Socialists of America lead the US’s two largest cities."}],[{"start":18.88,"text":"Raman’s ascent, a year after Zohran Mamdani won a decisive victory in New York City, underscores the inroads far-left Democratic candidates made this election cycle as the cost of living, pernicious inflation and an uneven economic landscape fuelled voter frustration."}],[{"start":34.62,"text":"“We’ve watched friend after friend, family after family leave because they couldn’t afford to stay here anymore,” she told supporters at an election event on Tuesday. “We have had enough of establishment politics.”"}],[{"start":46.52,"text":"Other candidates aligned with or backed by the DSA who won on Tuesday included mayoral candidates Janeese Lewis George in Washington DC and David Morales in Providence, Rhode Island, furthering the progressive foothold in local government offices around the country."}],[{"start":61.92,"text":"The embrace of progressive Democrats in this election cycle will intensify the debate over the party’s future as it searches for a torchbearer able to energise voters in the 2028 presidential election."}],[{"start":73.04,"text":"DSA leaders said this week capped one of their most successful election cycles as Americans “emphatically endorsed socialism to oppose the corruption and barbarism of Donald Trump and the Republicans”."}],[{"start":84,"text":"Bass, a member of the Democratic establishment who had called Raman to concede earlier on Thursday, struggled to win over voters after wildfires last year destroyed huge swaths of the Palm-tree lined city. Bass was out of the city when the fires erupted, fuelling criticism that she was out of touch with Angelenos."}],[{"start":101.92,"text":"“While this is not the outcome we hoped for, the people of Los Angeles have spoken,” Bass said, with the Associated Press calling the race for Raman. “I have committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless transition. Moving this city forward is what Los Angeles needs from all of us.”"}],[{"start":118,"text":"LA has also struggled to rebound from a sharp slowdown in Hollywood productions as studios sought out lower-tax areas to film television shows and movies. Voters highlighted lingering economic malaise as well as the city’s homelessness crisis as reasons to dump Bass."}],[{"start":133.52,"text":"“Karen Bass failed,” Gerardo Felix Jr, a restaurant manager voting in Boyle Heights, a working-class and predominantly Latino area, told the FT. “She didn’t do anything . . . our potholes are horrible, city services have been cut.”"}],[{"start":148.12,"text":"India-born Raman had initially endorsed Bass for a second term before launching her own bid for office."}],[{"start":153.96,"text":"She made housing affordability a pillar of her campaign, promising to ban private equity firms from systematically buying up single-family homes and pledging to reduce the number of people sleeping in encampments and tents by half before the city hosts the Olympics in 2028."}],[{"start":169.22,"text":"Harvard-educated Raman has had a complicated relationship with the DSA. The organisation’s national leadership narrowly voted against rescinding its LA chapter’s endorsement days before the election amid disagreements over her stance to boycott and divest from Israel."}],[{"start":184.16,"text":"Raman has emphasised her independence, characterising herself as both a capitalist and a democratic socialist."}],[{"start":190.6,"text":"She took roughly 52 per cent of the vote, with votes still trickling in, according to the clerk’s office for Los Angeles County."}],[{"start":202.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1793927772_1159.mp3"}