Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman is tapping the progressive ad shop that helped propel Zohran Mamdani to victory in New York — despite hundreds of fellow Democratic Socialists urging candidates to cut ties with the firm over its work for a scandal-plagued Senate hopeful.
Raman’s campaign plans to hire Fight Agency to produce television ads as the city councilwoman battles Mayor Karen Bass for control of City Hall, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
No contract has yet been signed, according to the Times.
The Post reached out to Raman’s campaign Wednesday but had not heard back.
The move immediately handed Bass fresh ammunition.
“Nithya Raman’s decision to hire Fight Agency is a major liability for her candidacy and another example of putting her political ambition first,” Bass campaign spokesman Alex Stack told The Post.
Fight Agency openly pitches itself as a shop for political insurgents, declaring on its website that it seeks “American originals” willing to take on the “toughest battles in politics” with “sharp messaging and the next great iconic ad.”
The firm says it launched in January 2025 and has since signed candidates including Mamdani and Graham Platner.
Fight boasts that strategist Morris Katz served as Mamdani’s “lead media strategist,” helping shape campaign strategy and produce the ads that turned the former state assemblyman into a national progressive figure.
But the firm has since faced scrutiny over its work for Platner, whose U.S. Senate campaign in Maine unraveled amid a string of controversies.
Platner faced scrutiny over a Nazi-linked tattoo and allegations about his treatment of women before a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault.
Platner denied the sexual assault allegation.
The fallout triggered a revolt among some Democratic Socialists.
Several hundred DSA members signed a letter urging candidates and elected officials to stop working with Fight and Katz.
Raman is a member of DSA-LA, which backed her previous City Council campaigns but has yet to endorse a candidate in the mayoral race.
None of Raman’s fellow DSA-aligned councilmembers have publicly backed her mayoral bid either.
The planned hire has also triggered local blowback.
Veteran Los Angeles political consultant Michael Trujillo, who supports Bass and plans to work with an independent expenditure group backing her, blasted the move after the news broke Wednesday.
“The Fight Agency successfully was able to spin for months Graham Platner’s Nazi tattoo on his chest, him interacting with neo-Nazis on internet as a candidate for Senate,” Trujillo told The Post.
“Now they get to spin Nithya Raman’s record on reopening dangerous homeless encampments.”
Stack went further, accusing Fight of knowing about the sexual assault allegation against Platner while continuing to push his candidacy.
“On top of their toxic track record, Fight Agency just blew hundreds of millions of dollars tanking a statewide campaign and illegally paying influencers,” Stack charged.
Fight, however, has pushed back.
“We decided to make ads for the campaign that actually believes in taking on a broken status quo and a corrupt political establishment to finally make things work in L.A. again,” Fight spokesman Michael Mikail told the Times.
The political brawl erupts just hours before Raman and Bass are set to square off Wednesday night in a much-anticipated mayoral debate hosted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association.
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