Los Angeles Mayoral Race Takes a Turn

In a notable shift, far-left Los Angeles Councilmember Nithya Raman has overtaken former reality star and conservative mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, securing second place in the recent primary. However, incumbent Karen Bass continues to hold her lead.

As polls closed on June 2, Bass, a Democrat, is locked in a competitive re-election battle against several challengers, including City Councilmember Raman and Pratt, who is running as a Republican.

Bass has garnered 250,871 votes, while Raman trails with 196,198. Pratt, who was backed by former President Donald Trump, is currently in third with 193,085 votes, as reported by the Associated Press.

The mayoral race is nonpartisan, with all candidates listed on one ballot. Since no candidate achieved over 50 percent of the vote—required for an outright win—the top two contenders will move on to the general election.

Initially, when polls closed, Pratt had a solid lead for second place. However, California allows mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by election day, which can change results significantly.

On Monday, Trump expressed his thoughts on Truth Social regarding the sudden changes in the race, reiterating past concerns about California’s delayed election results.

“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” the former president commented.

Historically, mail-in ballots in Los Angeles tend to favor progressive and Democratic candidates. This weekend, as officials counted these ballots, Raman managed to surpass Pratt by approximately 3,000 votes.

Earlier, Trump had raised doubts about the integrity of California’s election process, accusing Democrats of trying to manipulate the outcome through the mail-in ballot system.

Looking ahead, Bass and Raman are set to face each other in what is expected to be a closely contested general election in this predominantly blue city.