Fourth in the list of the top candidates for Los Angeles' mayoral election in May 2013, Kevin James is just as much of an outsider as he claims he is in his campaign slogan - he's Republican (unusual for L.A., in general), gay (conflicting with much of the Republican party, which does not actively support many gay rights) and is currently practicing private law (most other candidates are in some kind of public position).

Despite this, he's making waves - Republican media strategist Fred Davis has formed a super PAC for James, hoping to raise $4 million for his campaign, and L.A. County District Attorney Steve Cooley has also backed James for the position. 

"I have a broad base of support and I have received a warm response from Angelenos all over the city," James said. "I am seeking this office to make Los Angeles great again - to put LA back on track."

James is running on the idea that he is an "outsider" of City Hall and that other candidates are indebted to the politics of Los Angeles rather than to the people. His website centers around this idea, saying he aims to "expose the failed policies of current city leadership."

"In the past couple of months he's gone from being an afterthought to a long shot to a plausible outsider candidate," Dan Schnur, a former Republican strategist and professor at USC's Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, said to the L.A. Times.

But he's falling a little behind -in polls, James is still behind Wendy Greuel, Eric Garcetti and Jan Perry. 

"I knew that all of my opponents would be City Hall insiders, and that those City Hall insiders would not be willing to make the tough decisions that will need to be made to turn our city around," James said. "There is a culture of corruption in City Hall that harms our entire city."

Although James has not been specifically criticized in the election, many other candidates have expressed their commitment to ending corruption as well.

"I've peered into the deepest and darkest corners of our city departments," Greuel said at a mayoral debate on Sept. 21.

Davis, who has worked on campaigns for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former President George W. Bush, has already raised $500,000 for his super PAC, Better Way LA. He's also faced his own share of criticism for a controversial proposal for a super PAC during the Mitt Romney campaign, which was called Obama a "metrosexual black Abraham Lincoln," among other deeply inflammatory comments. Although he's apologized since, his other ads in major campaigns in 2010 - Christine O' Donnell's "I Am Not A Witch" ad, to name one - have not gone unnoticed either. 

"The existence of the super PAC does not influence the way I run my campaign," James said, adding that the creation of super PAC indicates that the people of Los Angeles want a change. Super PACs are intended to raise money and spend on campaign ads without candidate input or approval.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a nonprofit advocacy group called Fix It LA has also been created for the possibility of anonymous donors. However, only about 16 percent of Angelenos are registered Republicans and it's unlikely that the city will elect a Republican over multiple Democratic candidates. 

While most of his platform for improving L.A. revolve primarily around the idea that the current leadership is flawed, he also has strong ideas about city issues. According to his website, James' top three issues are to bring jobs back to L.A., long-term fiscal responsibility, and the encouragement and improvement of education. Secondary to that, he said he intends to address issues including the ease of accessibility to medical marijuana, transportation problems and homelessness in Los Angeles - all in all, forcing him to look at almost every single aspect of the mayor's duties.

James is firm in the idea that his beliefs - along with the position of mayor -are entirely nonpartisan. 

"My solutions to the city's problems are nonpartisan, my solutions are workable," said James. "I'm running on a platform of fiscal responsibility; honest, open, and accountable government; anti-corruption; and bringing jobs and opportunity back to L.A."

 

Reach Staff Reporter Nandini Ruparel here.