late ballots – Thousands of mail ballots flipped Los Angeles’ mayoral primary, pushing Council member Nithya Raman into a November runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass—after Spencer Pratt led early and drew national attention, including from President Donald Trump.
Los Angeles was headed toward a celebrity-versus-incumbent showdown—until the mail started arriving.
After election night, City Council member Nithya Raman trailed in the mayoral primary. In the days since last week’s vote. thousands of ballots returned through California’s mail-heavy election process. and Raman surged into second place. Under California’s rules, the top two finishers advance to the November election regardless of party.
That shift landed Raman in a runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. Bass finished first in the primary but failed to win an outright majority, setting up the first mayoral runoff featuring an incumbent Los Angeles mayor in more than two decades.
The race turned on Spencer Pratt—an ex–reality television personality—who had held second place on election night and quickly became a national political story. His position drew attention from conservatives and even from President Donald Trump.
As Pratt’s lead shrank during the late-counting period, both Pratt and Trump raised complaints about the slow results. Trump claimed, without evidence, that the election was being rigged. Election officials. in turn. pointed to the routine reality of California’s system: it can take days to process mail ballots.
When the primary count ultimately kept reshaping itself, the stakes became unmistakable. Pratt’s early momentum was erased. Raman’s late surge delivered her a path to City Hall in November. and the runoff that looked like a spectacle hardened into a contest between a progressive city council member and the city’s incumbent mayor.
Los Angeles mayoral runoff Nithya Raman Karen Bass Spencer Pratt mail ballots California election rules Trump
Late ballots again?? So basically election night doesn’t mean anything.
I’m so confused. Didn’t Pratt “win” early like on TV? And then suddenly mail ballots change it… like what are we even voting for.
Feels like Trump was right about it being rigged, but I guess they’ll say “oh it’s California mail processing” like that explains everything. If Raman was behind, how did she jump ahead that fast? Also Pratt getting knocked out sounds like karma for chasing the spotlight.
So Bass still goes to runoff even though she didn’t get a majority, and everyone blames mail ballots like that’s not normal. I swear half of LA politics is just waiting games. Spencer Pratt was acting like he had it, and then nope. Doesn’t matter anyway, this city will probably end up the same. Or I guess it won’t. Not sure.