Ramit Varma leaves mayoral race in Los Angeles
ENTREPRENEUR Ramit Varma, who spent about $4m of his own money to run for the mayorship of Los Angeles, announced his endorsement of Rick Caruso via a video on his official campaign page on Facebook titled Ramit Varma for Mayor on May 24.
With the primary election on June 7, Varma is the third candidate to drop out of the race in the last two weeks. Now, there are nine candidates who are competing for the position to be vacated by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the presidential nominee for the role of US Ambassador to India.
During the upcoming primary elections in June, if no candidate wins a clear majority , the top two contenders will again run against each other in November elections.
‘Although Rick and I have very different backgrounds and experiences, I found that we are united by a common purpose. After deep thought and consideration, I have decided to join forces with Rick Caruso because I believe we are aligned in our vision for the city of LA.’
Varma started out his campaign strong with promises to reduce government waste, eliminate homelessness and create a city that is futuristic. For his campaign inauguration, Varma had rented out the Banc of California Stadium for 400 people.
Varma, who is the cofounder of Revolution Prep--an online tutoring firm, loaned himself $4 million for the campaign. However, in a city of 2.1 million registered voters, Varma found publicity to be challenging endeavour in terms of winning a high number of votes. According to reports, this was the real reason behind his quitting the mayoral race.
‘He (Ramit Varma) represents the younger generation in this city. Working together in City Hall, we’ve already talked about a bunch of things we want to do,’ said Rick Caruso, real estate developer and LA Mayorial candidate.
Varma joins the likes of City Attorney Mike Feuer who brought his campaign to an end on May 24 and endorsed Rep. Karen Bass and Councilman Joe Buscaino who dropped out on May 12 and endorsed Caruso.
Varma had launched his campaign last fall with a bang, renting out the Banc of California Stadium for 400 people, where he’d promised to cut government waste, end homelessness and ‘build a city of the future - right now.’
In an April poll by UC Berkeley, just 1 percent of people surveyed said they’d vote for Varma. With little name recognition in a city of 2.1 million registered voters, he was forced to withdraw his nomination.