Nithya Raman edges out Spencer Pratt to face Karen Bass in LA mayoral runoff

Nithya Raman, a progressive Los Angeles city council member, has advanced to the November runoff for LA mayor, edging out former reality TV villain Spencer Pratt for the chance to face incumbent mayor Karen Bass.

Pratt, who decided to run for mayor after his Pacific Palisades home burned down in the 2025 wildfires, held a lead over Raman for days. But as ballot processing from last week’s election continued, the city councillor pulled ahead.

Bass, who is seeking another term leading America’s second largest city,learned on 2 June’s primary election night she had secured enough votes to make it to the November election, but the race for second remained close for nearly a week.

With many Democratic voters hanging on to their ballots until the election’s final days and California’s notoriously thorough, but slow, processing time for ballots, the results of some of the biggest races in the state remain unclear. In the governor’s race, voters are waiting to learn whether Republican Steve Hilton or Democrat Tom Steyer will advance to run against former Biden cabinet official Xavier Becerra. Becerra advanced to the general election on Friday.

But misinformation about the integrity of California’s election and conspiracy theories about vote rigging has proliferated while the state awaits results. On Friday, Trump walked out of an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press after making false election claims and calling the state “crooked” and alleging there was “cheating”.

“It’s four days and they aren’t even close to counting [ballots],” Trump said.

Pratt hinted at similar election conspiracy theories in a social media post, writing, “They’re not the only ones who know where to find votes” and suggesting that Raman’s lead in the race came from votes from the entirety of LA’s unhoused population.

In the weeks leading up to the election, Pratt, a political novice, surged to the top of polls as he made headlines for controversial campaign videos and unrelenting social media attacks on his rivals, portraying Bass and Raman as ineffective leaders. But his campaign was dogged by questions around his lack of political experience, as well as his status as a registered Republican in deep-blue LA.

Raman’s last-minute February entry into the race – hours before the filing deadline – rattled the city’s politicos. Weeks before, she had endorsed Bass’s re-election bid. The two have also heaped praise on each other in past social media posts.

“She [Raman] is a perfect example of how elected officials should be, starting from the grassroots, motivated because of a very specific problem,” Bass said in a 2023 video, referring to Raman’s focus on affordable housing.

“I am so grateful for your friendship and your support,” Raman responded.

Raman has largely dismissed questions about their personal history. “I don’t think we should talking about the future of LA in the context of friendship or betrayal,” she said in a previous statement to the Guardian. “We need to be talking about the issues that are facing us and how we can fix them.”

The next mayor will be tasked with showing progress in curbing the homelessness crisis, an issue that has long vexedLos Angeles, in revitalizing Hollywood amid a production exodus, and in shoring up emergency-response programs after last year’s deadly wildfires.

Prior to her time in city hall, Bass had been a fixture of state and national politics, serving respected tenures in the state assembly and in the US Congress. She defeated billionaire developer Rick Caruso in the 2022 mayoral race and became the first woman to lead Los Angeles.

Discontent with Bass’s tenure erupted following the deadly 2025 wildfires that ravaged Altadena and the Pacific Palisades. Bass was on an ill-timed diplomatic trip to Ghana when the massive fires broke out. Her absence, coupled with reports about budget cuts to the fire department, sparked a barrage of calls to resign.

Since then, Bass has fought to win back Angelenos’ support. But discontent over the city’s post-fire rebuilding, as well as the homelessness crisis, have not abated.

Raman, a democratic socialist, regards herself as the change needed to steer the city in the right direction. In 2020, she unseated councilman David Ryu in a victory that encouraged leftist candidates across the nation. She has touted her record capping rent increases and slashing encampments half-fold in her district, and has made housing central to her campaign, pushing for more development across LA.

While Bass and Raman are aligned on many issues, they have proposed different approaches to some of LA’s biggest issues. Bass has touted Inside Safe, a program that clears encampments and secures interim housing, typically motel rooms, for individuals living on the streets.

Raman, however, has said the program has spent money without results. She has proposed reforms to incorporate data and metrics for better oversight and accountability with homeless initiatives.

Bass and Raman have also clashed over Raman’s votes against a proposal to hire more firefighters after last year’s wildfires and an anti-homeless camping ordinance. (Raman has described the bill as a short-term fix).

Prominent California Democrats including Governor Gavin Newsom and former vice-president Kamala Harris have supported Bass’s re-election campaign, as have some of Raman’s progressive colleagues on the city council.

Polls leading up to election day showed Raman and Pratt in a tight race to challenge Bass in November’s election.

Pratt first rose to infamy on The Hills, a hit MTV show chronicling the life of 20-something year-olds in Los Angeles that aired between 2006 and 2010. His angry outbursts and tumultuous relationship with his now wife, costar Heidi Montag, earned him a reputation as one of reality TV’s most infamous villains.