Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass advanced to November’s general election on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. She is in a very competitive race for a second term as mayor, facing Democratic Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman and Republican Spencer Pratt, best known for his role on the reality television series The Hills.
As of Wednesday morning, no winner has been declared in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. With 63% of the votes counted, Bass leads all candidates at 34.8% and 172,720 votes. The political newcomer, Spencer Pratt, is currently in second place at 30.4% and 151,149 votes. Raman is in third place at 22.3% and 110,848 votes.
Bass was first elected as mayor of Los Angeles in 2022. She drew considerable scrutiny as mayor when, during the Southern California wildfires of January 2025, it was revealed that she had traveled to Africa to attend the inauguration of Ghana’s President John Mahama. Bass was heavily criticized for the decision, with many rebuking her for attending the inauguration of Ghana’s President John Mahama while many in her city lost their homes because of the fires.
Pratt’s house was destroyed during the wildfires, and ever since he announced his candidacy for mayor, he has held Bass responsible, making accusations that she was incompetent and corrupt. It has led to a surge in popularity for the reality star, evident in his strong performance in recent polls and, more importantly, in Tuesday’s primary election results thus far. Despite his strong performance, with 37% of the votes remaining to be counted, it is unsure if Pratt or city council member Raman will advance to the general election in November.
Under California’s jungle primary system, the top two finishers advance to the Nov. 3 runoff if no candidate wins a majority outright. Bass had 26% support among likely voters, compared with 25% for Raman and 22% for Pratt, according to a University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies-Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday.
California’s election results often take longer to finalize than those in many other states because officials must process millions of ballots cast through a variety of voting methods. Election administrators argue the system increases voter participation and accessibility, but it also requires additional time to ensure every ballot is properly counted.
A major factor is the state’s widespread use of vote-by-mail. While voters casting ballots in person are typically verified before voting, mail ballots must go through several post-election checks, including signature verification. When signatures are missing or do not match voter records, election officials are required to contact voters and give them a chance to correct the problem before their ballots can be counted.
California’s ballot receipt rules further extend the timeline. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive up to a week later and still be officially counted for the vote total. As a result, officials may spend days collecting and processing outstanding ballots, particularly in closely contested races in which a small number of votes can determine the outcome.
Pratt, a 42-year-old registered Republican, built his campaign around voter anger over homelessness, crime, and frustration with city leadership following the Palisades fire that destroyed his home last year.
He embraced an aggressive digital strategy, leaning heavily on viral clips and anti-establishment messaging, with AI-generated videos depicting Pratt as Batman swooping into a burning Los Angeles or battling Bass with lightsabers, drawing millions of views online. He also gained traction after a commanding performance during the campaign’s first televised debate, in which he aggressively challenged Bass and Raman.
Still, questions about Pratt’s readiness for office dogged him throughout the entire race. Critics pointed to his lack of governing experience, vague policy proposals, and a lawsuit against the city and Department of Water and Power over the wildfire that destroyed his and his parents’ homes in the Pacific Palisades. Some of his proposals, including involuntary psychiatric holds for homeless people, would likely face steep legal and logistical barriers.
Bass has vulnerabilities of her own. Despite decades in public office, including service in the state legislature and Congress, she has framed her reelection bid as a call for continued change, arguing she needs more time to address the city’s problems.
As mentioned above, she faced sustained criticism over her handling of the Palisades fire, particularly for being abroad when it broke out and for the slow pace of rebuilding efforts. More recently, she has drawn backlash for supporting a deal to delay a planned $30 minimum wage increase for hospitality and airport workers until after the 2028 Olympics.
Bass has largely avoided elevating Pratt directly, instead focusing much of her criticism on Raman, a sign that Democrats may view Pratt as the easier general-election opponent in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 4 to 1.
Bass and Raman, meanwhile, were considered political allies for years, often appearing on the same side of major city fights. Bass publicly supported Raman during her bruising 2024 council reelection race, and Raman had backed Bass in her showdown with billionaire developer Rick Caruso two years earlier. That relationship unraveled after Raman entered the mayoral contest in February.
Raman has described her decision to run for mayor as both “unexpected” and “necessary.”
“Over the past few years, I’ve had a growing sense that our city is falling behind,” Raman said. “That feeling sharpened after last January’s fires, the city’s slow response, and the lack of accountability at City Hall.”
PRATT RALLIES SUPPORTERS AS LOS ANGELES MAYORAL RACE ENTERS FINAL STRETCH
She has argued that Los Angeles’s problems extend well beyond wildfire recovery. She has also pointed to lingering public safety concerns, arguing that even as violent crime declines, slow 911 response times have left many residents feeling unsafe.
Raman came under fire after suggesting during a televised debate that Bass and Pratt were teaming up to push her out of the primary. The accusation prompted a stinging rebuke from Pratt.
“First off, Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together,” he said. “I blame [Bass] for burning my house and my parents’ house and my town and my neighbors down. I am not working with Mayor Bass.”
“Second off, if I want to run against anybody, it would be the councilmember who is terrible. Mayor Bass has at least been a mayor for almost four years and has, as she talked about earlier, the unions, all the unions endorse Mayor Bass. Do you think it’s easier to run against the incumbent mayor with all the unions or a random city councilmember who’s been a failure for six years? I would much rather run against Councilwoman Raman.”