Updated results released Friday showed Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman closing the gap on reality TV personality Spencer Pratt in the mayoral primary: Raman trimmed Pratt’s lead to about three percentage points, trailing by 20,672 votes, while Mayor Karen Bass remained in first place with 35% of the vote.
The Friday count put Pratt at 28% and Raman at 25%, leaving only Bass, Pratt and Raman as the top three candidates in the race. County election officials said they will continue posting updated results daily through June 12, and will accept mail ballots that were postmarked on Election Day through Tuesday — the remaining returns could decide who finishes second and advances to the November runoff.
If no candidate reaches a majority, the top two move on to a runoff; Bass is seeking a second four‑year term and is the only one of nine City Hall incumbents who’s been pushed into a second round so far. That reality gives the second‑place contest outsized significance: Bass’s lead keeps her in front, but she did not secure an outright majority on election night or in the latest update.
The friction is clear: Bass holds the lead while the fight for the second slot remains unsettled between Pratt and Raman. With Pratt ahead by roughly 20,672 votes — about three percentage points — counting that continues through next week will determine whether he keeps the margin or Raman closes it enough to force a Bass‑Raman runoff on Nov. 3.
The update also resolved other local contests. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto failed to make the runoff after falling behind Deputy Attorney General Marissa Roy and Deputy District Attorney John McKinney; Feldstein Soto posted a brief statement Friday emphasizing the durability of voters’ choices: "Respecting the voice of the people is at the heart of our democracy," she wrote. City Controller Kenneth Mejia held his seat, fending off a challenge from real estate executive Zach Sokoloff, whose campaign had been boosted by $7.5 million in outside spending from his mother.
At City Hall, half a dozen council members won reelection; Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said Friday she had secured another term, adding in a statement, "Together, we earned another term for our community and our movement," and currently shows 54% of the vote — the most competitive of the six successful re‑election bids.
What remains unsettled is straightforward and consequential: which of the outstanding ballots — late‑arriving mail ballots postmarked on Election Day, provisional ballots and any remaining precinct returns — will carry enough weight to flip the roughly three‑point gap between Pratt and Raman. County officials will release daily tallies through June 12, after which updates will become more sporadic; the candidate who emerges second, not necessarily the one who led on election night, will face Bass in the Nov. 3 runoff.
