Nithya Raman overtakes Spencer Pratt for second place in Los Angeles mayoral primary

Jun 7, 2026

In the Los Angeles mayoral primary, City Council member Nithya Raman has overtaken reality TV star Spencer Pratt for the second-place spot to face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in a November runoff. Raman's surge, which put her at 27.1% to Pratt's 26.6%, is attributed to late-counted mail-in ballots, a common trend in California elections. Over 100,000 votes remain to be tallied in Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles mayoral primary results

▪In the 2022 mayoral primary, real estate developer Rick Caruso led for about a week before Karen Bass pulled ahead as late ballots were counted.
▪Spencer Pratt is a registered Republican, while Nithya Raman is a Democrat and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
▪The second-place finisher in the Los Angeles mayoral primary will face Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff election.
▪A Bass-Raman runoff would be between two Democrats, while a Bass-Pratt race would be a more traditional partisan contest.
▪Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, has secured a spot in the November runoff election.

California gubernatorial primary results

▪Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, is battling Democrat Tom Steyer for the second spot in the governor's race.
▪If elected, Xavier Becerra would become the first Latino governor of California in 150 years.

California top-two primary system

▪Under California's top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party.
▪Nithya Raman's gains are part of a statewide pattern where Democrats gain votes as California's slow counting process continues.

Vote counting timeline by county

▪California counties have 30 days to count provisional ballots, and mail-in votes postmarked by election day are accepted for seven days.
▪Analysts expected Nithya Raman to gain ground as mail-in ballots were tallied, as her progressive base tends to vote later.
▪As of June 8, 2026, Los Angeles County still had more than 100,000 votes left to count.

Raman overtakes Pratt in polling

▪A pre-primary UC Berkeley-LA Times poll showed Karen Bass at 26%, Nithya Raman at 25%, and Spencer Pratt at 22%.
▪The June 7, 2026 update showed Nithya Raman with 27.1% of the vote to Spencer Pratt's 26.6%, with 83% of votes counted.
▪As of Sunday, June 7, 2026, City Council member Nithya Raman overtook former reality TV star Spencer Pratt for second place.

Becerra advances to general election

▪Before advancing, Xavier Becerra had been in second place in the gubernatorial race behind Republican challenger Steve Hilton.
▪In the separate California gubernatorial primary, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has advanced to the general election.