Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman cut the distance to reality TV figure Spencer Pratt, now trailing by 33,076 votes as the city’s primary returns continue to be updated. The narrowing race sets up a Nov. 3 runoff with Mayor Karen Bass holding first p
For the third straight update, Los Angeles voters watched the top of the mayor’s race reshuffle—this time with Nithya Raman pulling closer to Spencer Pratt.
In the latest election update posted Thursday, the Los Angeles City Councilmember remained in third place but narrowed the gap with Pratt in the race for the Nov. 3 runoff against Mayor Karen Bass. Raman now trails Pratt by just under six percentage points, according to the posted results.
A day earlier, the gap was wider: Raman was about seven percentage points behind Pratt. When county workers finished tabulating votes on election night, the difference between the two stood at eight percentage points. The vote margin tells the same story in numbers: Raman now trails Pratt by 33,076 votes. A day earlier, she was 37,307 votes behind.
The two names sit far apart in background and branding—Raman in City Hall, Pratt as the onetime villain on MTV’s “The Hills”—but they are now separated by a relatively narrow slice of the electorate as ballots continue to be counted.
Bass, who is seeking a second 4-year term, has maintained first place throughout the updates shown in Thursday’s tally. The results posted Thursday show Bass at 35% of the vote, compared to 29% for Pratt and 23% for Raman.
Los Angeles voters are no strangers to a late-moving primary. In the 2022 mayoral primary, real estate developer Rick Caruso led the pack for about a week before Bass pulled ahead. The pattern matters here because it shapes what candidates and campaigns are preparing for as counting extends beyond election night.
Under the rules for the mayoral primary, if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two will face off in the runoff. With Bass in first place and the contest for second tightening between Pratt and Raman, the weeks ahead hinge on how late-arriving ballots land in the final totals.
County election officials will continue accepting mail-in ballots with an election day postmark through Tuesday, keeping the vote count in flux and the final matchup in the runoff unsettled as it moves toward Nov. 3.
Los Angeles mayoral race Nithya Raman Spencer Pratt Karen Bass Nov. 3 runoff election update Los Angeles City Council
Spencer Pratt really pulling votes?? LA is wild.
How is it still changing if they already counted? I saw something about mail ballots till Tuesday and I’m like… so the whole thing could flip last minute. Bass better not get complacent.
Nithya Raman down to 33,076 votes behind Pratt or like 6 percent? That sounds like close but also not close? math is confusing. Also Spencer Pratt feels like a reality TV fraud candidate so idk how he’s even in second.
They keep saying runoff Nov 3 like people don’t already know who they want. If mail ballots keep coming, what’s the point of election night then? Feels rigged tbh but maybe that’s just LA always being messy. Also I swear yesterday it was 37k behind so yeah it can swing fast.