Encino businessman Ramit Varma announced his candidacy for mayor of Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Speaking to a crowd of 400 assembled at Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park, Varma vowed to end homelessness, slash government spending, and “build a city of the future, right now.”
“We are losing the very things that made Los Angeles Los Angeles,” Varma said, referring to the rapidly rising cost of living and shortage of affordable housing across the city.
Varma blamed those problems on misspending by city bureaucrats, specifically targeting Proposition HHH, a $1.2 billion bond measure passed by L.A. voters in 2016 for the construction of 10,000 housing units for the homeless.
Varma is co-founder of the online tutoring company Revolution Prep. He is investing at least $1 million of his own money into the fledgling mayoral campaign.
He joins a crowded field of candidates jockeying to replace outgoing Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2022. U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D.-Los Angeles) leads the pack with a double-digit polling lead.
Other candidates include L.A. City Councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Kevin de León, City Attorney Mike Feuer, Central City Association CEO Jessica Lall, and Echo Park Neighborhood Councilmember Alex Gruenenfelder.
Varma enjoys the support of Marc Merrill, co-founder of the L.A.-based video game development company Riot Games. “It breaks our hearts to look around and see what’s happening,” Merrill lamented to the crowd assembled at Banc of California Stadium.
“You can choose more of the same,” Varma said Wednesday, “or you can choose to reboot L.A.”
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