So I lost my Neighborhood Council election

That’s a little embarrassing to type out — like admitting your application to clown college was rejected — but it happened. If you don’t know, Neighborhood Councils are a level of local government in the City of Los Angeles below City Council that are “advisory” (have no legislative power).

The rest of this is going to get into the weeds of local L.A. politics so now’s your chance to back out.

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (the one I ran for) has undergone an interesting evolution lately. From a blatantly pro-cop NIMBY nightmare, to the outgoing council which is more of a mixed bag, to the incoming council which is, at least on paper, much more left-leaning.

I was convinced to run by someone from DSA-LA (Democratic Socialists). I said “yes” and joined what was being called a “Progressive slate.” “Slates” are quite popular in NC elections and are the main way people get elected (besides running unopposed). Since the ballot doesn’t contain a party affiliation or any information about the candidates, and since most candidates can’t afford to run much of a campaign, “slates” band together, do some branding, pass out some fliers, and people tend to vote for the slate as a “straight ticket.”

So far, so good. Until I wound up in an absurd situation where I was “voted off” the slate, because they wanted to add a new person and thus only had two “slots” available for the region I was running for and three people wanting those slots. Against my wishes, they held a vote on a Zoom meeting. I lost the vote, then had to decide whether to stay in the meeting or just quietly hit the “X.” (I chose the latter. It’s funny now, but wasn’t at the time).

So I decided to keep my campaign going on my own, knowing my chances to win were slim when the “Progressive Slate” was endorsing both my opponents (the top two vote-getters per region are elected).

Then a few weeks later, the “Progressive Slate” disappeared and something called “Silver Lake Rising,” consisting of an eight-member subset of the old slate, appeared on social media. No one spoke to me about this. I reached out to one of the members and asked “Did you guys consider asking me back?” and got no response. I didn’t hear anything else from any of the other members for quite a while.

What’s odd is that all eight of the members of “Silver Lake Rising” are socialists, as am I. (Or at least they are members of DSA-LA. I was, as far as I know, the only person running to mention the word “socialism” in my materials or appearances). If not in the service of the much-email-signatured “Solidarity,” I was surprised to not be asked to join because I was and am very much aligned with the left politics they profess and the things they claim to want to accomplish in office, while the other candidate in my region is much more moderate. It seems like it would’ve been a win-win for everyone.

But that didn’t happen. It’s quite frustrating running against a “slate” in an election like this. Even when they were no longer directly endorsing my more moderate opponent, their self-branding as “the leftists” hurt. I’m sure quite a few voters saw their branding and I thought, “I’m a leftist or a socialist, I’ll support these folks, who must represent all the leftists in the race. If Ryan is a leftist, why isn’t he in Silver Lake Rising?” A few leftist twitter accounts, including one specifically dealing with Neighborhood Council issues, endorsed “Silver Lake Rising,” but not me. Again, this was likely out of simple ignorance that another leftist was running, though I did try to get the word out. Also, my campaign was literally just me, while they had eight people to pool financial, practical and emotional resources.

Another issue was that, since “Silver Lake Rising” contained the majority of the candidates on DSA-LA’s list of members running, it likely became “the socialist slate” in many people’s minds. Despite my name also being on DSA’s list, I’m sure at least a few people assumed anyone who wasn’t in “Silver Lake Rising” wasn’t a socialist or backed by DSA-LA. In defense of DSA-LA, they did support me — their phone-banking is probably responsible for the majority of the votes I did get. But they seem to have a “Rotary club” sort of policy where anyone who pays $20/month in dues gets their support with no further obligations — you don’t even have to publicly admit to being a socialist! While I understand this is a strategy to grow membership, I have serious doubts about the long-term wisdom of allowing “secret socialists” to garner DSA’s electoral support for one easy monthly payment, no questions asked.

That’s about it. It’s quite frustrating, and my purpose here is just to tell the truth and vent my feelings about the whole thing. Electoral politics is nasty. The constant parade of “leftist” candidates who disappoint once in office vividly illustrates how very difficult it is to stick to your guns once elected. I imagine this is especially true for younger people for whom it’s all new, and for whom following a leader and/or an established path is the most natural and comfortable thing. There are endless opportunities to tell yourself, “If I just compromise a bit now and play the game, it will pay off in the long run.”

On the positive side, walking the neighborhood and talking to people reminded me why I wanted to do this, and the responses I received on the street were almost universally positive.