Nithya Raman is currently the favorite to win Los Angeles’ mayoral race next week, but her recent appearance on The Iced Coffee Hour raises serious questions about how out of touch the city’s potential next mayor is with the problems she would be elected to address.
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Two exchanges stood out: one about drug use among the city’s homeless population, the other about rental income.
In the first, Raman, who previously chaired the Homelessness and Housing Committee, appeared to resist the premise of a question about residents calling police on homeless people using drugs, initially responding as though no crime were taking place. In the second, she seemed to believe that owning rental property in Los Angeles all but guarantees a profit, failing to acknowledge how the city’s left-wing policies have made that far from certain.
Nithya Raman vs. Graham on police being called on homeless people in LA… Nithya: “If there’s not a crime happening there…” Graham: “There is a crime, they’re doing drugs.” Nithya: “Well no if they’re just sitting on your sidewalk…” Graham: “No no, they’re doing drugs.” Nithya: “Well, that’s a different situation. What I’m talking about is someone sitting on your sidewalk talking to themselves potentially.” Graham: “Oh, no, no, no, no. I mean that’s not what I’m talking… anytime the police have been called, it’s because they’re doing drugs in public.”
— The Iced Coffee Hour (@TheICHpodcast) October 25, 2026
“There’s thousands of calls that are coming in, calls for service, that are for things that you don’t need armed officers to go out for, like the issue that you had with a person who is on your sidewalk, who is clearly homeless, who is maybe not someone you feel comfortable talking to,” Raman said. “LAPD would come out to that situation and not be able to do anything, right? If there’s not a crime happening there, if they’re not a threat to themselves.”
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“Well, there is a crime,” Graham Stephan, co-host of the Iced Coffee Hour said. “They’re doing drugs.”
“Well, no. If they’re just sitting on your sidewalk.”
“No, no. They’re doing drugs.”
“Well, that’s a different situation, right?” Raman said. “What I’m talking about is someone sitting on your sidewalk, talking to themselves potentially.”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, I mean, that’s not what I’m talking about,” Stephan said. “Anytime the police have been called, it’s because they’re doing drugs in public.”
Raman went on to turn her initial point into an argument for taxpayer-funded mental health services for homeless people, never mind the more glaring problem: Homeless people who commit crimes aren’t held accountable. Instead, they are left to use drugs freely, which then encourages drug use among those with mental illness. The problems then become so intertwined that politicians like Raman can conveniently frame a failure to enforce the law as a need for more empathetic, taxpayer-funded services.
Raman’s disconnect from reality became even more apparent when another guest on the podcast had to explain to the would-be mayor that rental properties in Los Angeles had lost money over the past decade because of the city’s housing policies.
Holy shit…this clip is unreal. Nithya Raman has absolutely NO clue about how housing works in LA. Oppenheim explains to her that landlords are losing money over the last decade and she’s got ZERO idea what he’s saying. This lady was chair of the Homelessness and Housing Committee for years and she’s genuinely hearing this for the first time in her life. Unreal that this low IQ buffoon is about to be the Mayor. WTF are we doing. https://t.co/oCLL7Vl9nJ
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) October 26, 2026
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This comes as Los Angeles now appears poised to elect a mayor even more progressive and incompetent than Karen Bass, who trails Raman in the available polling.
New – Mayor poll – Los Angeles 🔵 Nithya Raman 47%
🔵 Karen Bass 39% McLaughlin & Associates (B-) – 10/18 https://t.co/jPQoVs75x1— Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) October 22, 2026
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