Photo: Alamy
Democrat Nithya Raman has secured a spot in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff, according to the latest projections, setting up a November showdown with incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in a controversial outcome that knocks Republican candidate Spencer Pratt out of the race.
Raman, a Los Angeles City Council member backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, overtook Pratt after days of ballot counting in the city’s nonpartisan primary election.
With votes still being processed, Bass led the race with 35 percent, while Raman held 27.12 percent compared with Pratt’s 26.69 percent. The margin between Raman and Pratt stood at just 3,113 votes.
Bass, a former Democratic member of Congress, was first elected mayor in 2022 after defeating Rick Caruso in one of the most expensive mayoral contests in Los Angeles history.
Raman campaigned on promises to address economic inequality, increase housing construction, and help revive Los Angeles’ struggling entertainment sector.
As Raman began narrowing Pratt’s lead, Pratt signaled Sunday that he still believed the race remained competitive because of the large number of outstanding ballots.
“Remember everyone … we are still in the lead, and we’ve got allllllll the way til July 6th to keep counting,” Pratt wrote on X. “They’re not the only ones who know where to find votes.”
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said Friday it had opened “multiple election fraud investigations” tied to California elections and dispatched a prosecutor to Los Angeles County’s vote-counting center.
The announcement came one day after President Donald Trump alleged widespread fraud connected to California’s extended vote-counting procedures following Tuesday’s primary election.
Under California law, mail ballots remain valid if postmarked by Election Day and received by county election officials no later than June 9. County election officials are required to submit certified results to the California secretary of state by July 3.