Actor Jamie Kennedy expressed his astonishment at the surprising shift in polling odds concerning Spencer Pratt’s campaign for mayor of Los Angeles.
In a post shared on Friday, Kennedy highlighted that Socialist City Councilor Nitya Raman now supposedly has a 95% chance of moving on to the general election in November. Interestingly, despite the ongoing vote counting, Pratt still holds a lead.
“This feels like a crime scene,” Kennedy remarked. “There’s no way this can be a fair election.”
Just recently, oddsmakers had estimated Pratt’s chances of advancing were over 75%.
Pratt and Raman are contending for the chance to face current Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff, with Bass expected to advance without issue.
As of Saturday, vote counting in Los Angeles County was painstakingly slow, with about 71% of ballots tallied. Pratt had garnered 28.2% of the votes, while Raman trailed somewhat behind at 24.9%.
However, Pratt’s lead appears to be dwindling, especially as mail-in ballots are counted. These tend to favor Democratic candidates, and Raman managed to close the gap significantly, cutting Pratt’s lead by about 20,672 votes since the previous day.
Despite Pratt being ahead, some analysts believe Raman will ultimately snag a spot in the runoff. This belief stems from the late influx of mail-in votes, commonly cast by younger, Democratic voters.
Barring any unexpected developments, it seems like Nitya Raman is poised for a runoff, according to political strategist Michael Trujillo.
Still, skepticism persists among figures like Kennedy, who have raised doubts about the election integrity on social media platforms.
Conservative pollster John McLaughlin pointed out that Raman’s surge in support is unusual, attributing widespread distrust to California’s sluggish vote-counting practices. He remarked, “It’s peculiar that for Raman to get ahead, they would need to assume that Democratic votes did not go for Bass, which raises questions about the overall system.”
