LA mayoral – Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman are surging in fundraising ahead of Los Angeles’ June 2 primary, putting fresh pressure on Mayor Karen Bass as voters remain widely undecided.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is heading into the June 2 primary with three well-funded challengers—an unusually tight fundraising picture that is raising questions about momentum as the election nears.
According to campaign filings reported to the city’s Ethics Commission. reality television star Spencer Pratt has raised nearly $540. 000 since Jan.. 1, propelled in part by strong early cash flow after joining the race.. Nithya Raman. who entered in February. brought in $530. 000 through the April 18 reporting period. with much of her money tied to entertainment-industry donors and other media-related networks.. Bass. by comparison. reported nearly $495. 000 raised since the start of the year. though she has the advantage of being the incumbent and also began her reelection fundraising earlier.
A fourth candidate, tech entrepreneur Adam Miller, reported that he lent his campaign $2.5 million.. His reported fundraising also included about $200. 000 in donations. but his totals appear far behind the top trio in both cash on hand and the level of public attention they’ve attracted.. Public opinion polling. meanwhile. continues to show a large share of voters undecided—an opening that can reshape quickly once the final advertising push begins.
“Fundraising reports show the three highest-polling candidates evenly matched heading into the final weeks. ” said Dan Schnur. a politics professor associated with USC. UC Berkeley and Pepperdine.. He added that Bass. despite her incumbency. should be concerned that she has not raised more than her challengers in the period covered by the recent filings.. Schnur also described Pratt’s surge as evidence that the candidate has become “legitimate top-tier. ” even if the odds still favor established contenders in a deeply Democratic city.
The mayor’s race is nonpartisan on the ballot, but the city’s history has generally leaned Democratic.. Because Raman and Pratt entered late, both still trail Bass significantly when measured against total fundraising to date.. Bass began fundraising for reelection in 2024 and, in records cited in the reporting, has brought in more than $2.8 million overall.. With publicly funded matching funds added in. the mayor’s campaign has collected about $3.7 million. while Raman has already received about $612. 000 in matching funds. pushing her total above $1.1 million.
Still, fundraising is only one part of the political equation.. In 2022. billionaire developer Rick Caruso spent more than $100 million of his own money and lost to Bass by just under 10 percentage points.. That historical context matters because it underscores how quickly money can lose its advantage when voters conclude they want a different kind of leadership—or when a campaign fails to translate cash into persuasive messaging on the issues that dominate daily life.
For these contenders, the practical reason fundraising matters now is straightforward: ads.. With the June 2 primary approaching—and with the election set up so that if no candidate reaches 50%. the top two vote-getters advance—campaign money fuels television buys. social media advertising. mail and other essentials needed to define the race.. The dynamic is even more consequential in Los Angeles. where attention is fragmented and candidates must simultaneously build name recognition and respond to fast-moving public concerns.
Bass has been working to manage both campaign logistics and public skepticism.. Her bid for a second four-year term comes amid high disapproval levels. driven by voter dissatisfaction involving housing production. homelessness and other city services.. On Friday. she announced plans to spend more than $1 million on a new 30-second ad airing on television and digital platforms.. In the spot. she touted reductions for two straight years in street homelessness and framed her approach to federal immigration enforcement.
At the same time, Bass appeared to acknowledge the emotional reality of an electorate that feels stuck.. In the ad posted on YouTube. she said. “I haven’t always got it right. ” adding that “there’s more work to do.” The message functions as both reassurance and pivot: a signal that even as she argues progress. she’s attempting to regain credibility with residents who view city government as too slow to deliver.
Polling cited in the reporting suggests Bass remains slightly ahead of Raman and Pratt. with all three hovering in second and third places behind her at times.. But the numbers also indicate how fragile that lead may be: more than a quarter of Angelenos remained undecided last month.. Bass stood at 25% support in one poll, while Raman had 17% and Pratt trailed at 14%, according to figures discussed.. Outside that top cluster, Miller and community organizer Rev.. Rae Huang have much smaller fundraising totals, giving them fewer resources to compete for the undecided vote.
Raman’s fundraising profile reflects her ties to television and film networks.. Donations included contributions at the maximum level from figures identified in the reporting. such as “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost and “Bob’s Burgers” voice actor Dan Mintz.. Her campaign also emphasized grassroots support. pointing to more than 1. 700 grassroots donors powering her effort to present Los Angeles as an affordable city that works for everyone.
Pratt’s pitch. by contrast. is closely intertwined with a personal and civic rupture that has continued to shape political conversations in the city: the 2025 Palisades wildfire.. His fundraising momentum comes as he has criticized Bass’s handling of the disaster and the recovery process on social media and elsewhere.. In a campaign where credibility and lived experience can carry unusually heavy weight. that narrative may be part of why he has attracted donors and attention fast—even if the broader math still favors an incumbent.
Beyond the mayor’s race. the same fundraising reports offered a snapshot of how competition is playing out across city government.. In the contest for city controller. real estate executive Zach Sokoloff was reported as raising about $510. 000 by the April 18 deadline. compared with $110. 000 for incumbent Kenneth Mejia.. The controller race also drew attention for a much larger personal contribution: Sokoloff’s mother. Sheryl Sokoloff. gave $2.5 million to an independent expenditure committee backing him. a move Mejia denounced as “big money.”
Taken together. the fundraising picture in Los Angeles suggests a campaign environment where incumbency alone may not be enough to set the agenda—especially if challengers can sustain effective media spending and present sharper contrast on voter priorities.. With the primary only weeks away. the question now becomes whether the fundraising surges for Pratt and Raman translate into persuasion among undecided voters. or whether Bass’s longer campaign runway and broader base hold when it’s time to turn attention into votes.