Karen Bass heads to November runoff after Tuesday vote

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will face a November runoff after Tuesday’s election, with reality star Spencer Pratt leading early returns behind Bass. The second finalist remains unclear, but the matchup is shaping up against City Council member Nithya Raman as

For Los Angeles voters, Tuesday didn’t feel like the end of a campaign—it felt like the opening of a new one.

Early Wednesday morning returns put Mayor Karen Bass in first place, and Spencer Pratt in second, forcing the city into a November runoff. A second candidate—still not officially called—has left the final lineup unsettled, with the race narrowing toward Pratt and City Council member Nithya Raman.

Bass told supporters, “I appreciate you for standing with me when others doubted me, because you know who I am,” adding, “I have devoted my entire life to serving the city that I love, where I was born, and I’m going to continue to do that all the way to victory in November.”

The mayor’s path to another month of campaigning is set against a challenge that has never fit the usual shape of city politics. Pratt rose to fame as a reality TV villain on MTV’s The Hills. and alongside his wife. Heidi Montag. he has remained a tabloid presence since the early 2000s. The details have often revolved around financial troubles and televised antics.

That backdrop surged into the wildfire story cycle in a way that is hard to miss: during the 2025 Palisades fire, the Pratt’s mansion was burned to the ground along with large swaths of their neighborhood.

In May of last year. Montag told The Independent that the couple “just didn’t ‘have the finances’” to rebuild a 2. 000 square foot house. and that they would likely need to sell the lot it was on. Pratt later accused the government of Los Angeles of mismanaging the response to the devastating wildfires. and he announced he would challenge Bass for the reigns of the city.

Last night. speaking to reporters. Pratt framed the election as a referendum on basic city services. welcoming what he called a rematch. “This is not a candidate that I’m too concerned about,” he said. “I got in this because as a citizen, I felt like my city failed—myself, my neighbors, my family. Mayor Bass has allowed the city to be covered in potholes. We don’t have sidewalks. We don’t have lights. I’m an Angeleno who said ‘Enough is enough.’”.

But the fight over Bass’s stewardship has also carried a second layer: whether Pratt’s campaign messages can hold up under daylight. The campaign has leaned heavily on generative AI to generate advertisements and social media posts. including videos that depict Pratt as a parody of Will Smith’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Pratt as Batman rescuing Angelenos from tribunals held by Bass and other prominent Republicans.

As the race played out, some of Pratt’s wildfire-related claims appeared to collapse under scrutiny. The Los Angeles Times reported that Pratt has not been living full time in a trailer, and that he spent over $15,000 at the Hotel Bel-Air in a little more than a month.

Bass, by contrast, is running to keep her seat after completing her first term as mayor. She is a former member of the House of Representatives. California’s election system adds another twist to what voters experience on the ground: the state uses a “jungle primary. ” meaning candidates from all parties compete in the same primary regardless of party.

Because Bass did not win over fifty percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election, she did not take the race to an outright conclusion. Instead, the top two candidates move on to the general election in November.

Now. the city waits to learn whether the final spot beside Bass goes to Pratt or to Nithya Raman. with early returns already putting Pratt near the top of the leaderboard. For Bass. the path to victory runs through November; for the challengers. it runs through the last stretch of a campaign that has turned Los Angeles politics into something stranger—and more personal—than most expected.

Karen Bass Spencer Pratt Nithya Raman Los Angeles mayoral election November runoff jungle primary 2025 Palisades fire House of Representatives