DSA Analysis: ce again, this race is everyone else vs. AIPAC-loving Brad Sherman. In this San Fernando Valley district, eight people (six Democrats, one Republican, and one No Party Preference) piled into the race, underscoring how deeply unpopular it is to be backed by AIPAC and also to be a multi-decade Congressional incumbent past retirement age. Brad Sherman has been in office representing the San Fernando Valley since 1997! This is as long as a Gen Z’er has been alive!! The Sherman Oaks Galleria didn’t have a Cheesecake Factory yet!!! The Encino Man had barely thawed!!!!
Back to Brad - he is notorious among the left for his vigorous support for Israel; his voting record on Palestine-related issues is amongst the worst among California Democrats, and his views on other issues are fairly bland. He doesn’t support Medicare for All, taxing the rich, or defunding from war. We can go on, but we’ve had many voter guides saying how much Sherman is out of touch with his district. Let’s get to these challengers.
Sherman’s challengers range the full gamut of ideology (and website quality…), reflecting the modern liberal #resistance trend of historically moderate liberal voters looking for (or themselves becoming) younger candidates who will show more energy fighting Trump. We’ve got Dory Benami, whose issues page emphasizes his love for the US-Israel alliance. We’ve got Encino Neighborhood Councilmember Josh Sautter, who’s primarily concerned about getting money out of politics (cool) and funding crime prevention priorities (less cool). We’ve got a lady who explains that she’s “not a part of the far left” and whose website features a link to “The Constitution”.
The overwhelming favorite to advance to a runoff vs Sherman is Jake Levine. Levine’s platform isn’t terrible supporting Medicare for All, “shut down ICE”, and a just transition to a clean economy. But he was also a national security advisor to President Biden, and has very carefully avoided serious criticism of Israel, is endorsed by the moderate Zionist organization J Street, and calls for a “diplomacy-first approach to peace” and a two-state solution – but not an arms embargo.
Maybe we’ll need to think about holding our collective noses and voting for a liberal Zionist in the general election, but in the primary you should instead vote for Chris Ahuja or Marena Lin. Both are local progressive activists running shoe-string campaigns (Ahuja has raised $40k, Lin $14k) and are unlikely to make the runoff, but both support a broad range of left priorities from abolishing ICE, a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and crucially – stopping weapons sales to Israel to end the Palestinian genocide.
It’s unlikely that your vote for Ahuja or Lin is going to change the Levine/Sherman runoff, but we recommend that you do so to add to the constituency demanding a moral voice regarding Gaza

WFP endorsed