Karen Bass heads to LA mayoral runoff after falling short of majority

Incumbent leads in primary, but with less than 50% of votes must face either Spencer Pratt or Nithya Raman

Los Angeles’s high-profile mayoral contest remained unsettled Wednesday evening as the city waited to learn who will join incumbent Karen Bass in November’s general election.

Bass came out ahead in Tuesday’s heated primary but, after securing less than 50% of the vote, she’ll have to defend her seat against either Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV star, or progressive city council member Nithya Raman. As of Wednesday evening, with more than 60% of votes counted, Pratt had secured just under 30% of the vote, while Raman had won nearly 23%.

In California , where mail-in voting is popular and many Democrats waited until the last minute to return their ballots, it could take days or weeks for the final result to become clear.

In remarks to voters on Tuesday evening, Bass said she would spend the next four years addressing homelessness and building more housing units.

She described Los Angeles as a rebounding city, and vowed to build on the progress made over the last three and a half years. Invoking the “dark day” a year ago when Donald Trump sent immigration forces into the city, Bass declared: “We are a city that is unified.”

Pratt appeared ready to join the general election fray even as his advancement was not yet assured.

“We can do debates every Friday if she would like,” Pratt said of Bass while speaking to reporters at his Tuesday-night election party. “I literally could not be more excited.”

Raman, meanwhile, cautioned voters to wait for the full results.

“Many thousands of votes will be counted in the days ahead, and we may not get an answer we like,” she told supporters on Tuesday. “But regardless of what happens next, nobody – nobody – can take away what all of us have built together.”

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

The race initially seemed poised to be an intra-party match-up between Bass and her former ally Raman. But the contest took a turn in its final weeks as Pratt made substantial gains in polling and sparked national attention with controversial campaign videos and a combative debate performance.

Before her time in city hall, Bass had been a fixture of state and national politics, serving long and respected tenures in the state assembly and US Congress. She made history as the first woman to lead Los Angeles, triumphing over the billionaire developer Rick Caruso in the 2022 election, and registered high approval ratings when she assumed office.

In her first month in office, Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness, a move to expedite the construction of temporary and permanent housing.

Discontent with Bass’s tenure intensified sharply following the deadly January 2025 wildfires, which killed at least 31 people. Bass had been in Ghana on an ill-timed diplomatic trip when the fires broke out. Her absence, coupled with reports about budget cuts to the fire department, sparked a barrage of calls to resign.

She later called the trip a “mistake” and said had she been informed of the fire risk, she would not have gone abroad. The National Weather Service had issued warnings about “critical fire conditions” before her trip. Her approval ratings fell, and Bass later sacked the city fire chief. Since then, residents have been frustrated with a slow pace of rebuilding.

Pratt has eviscerated the mayor’s handling of the wildfires. He entered the race in January, spurred by the loss of his own home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

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

Critics have pointed out Pratt’s lack of political experience, concerns he has brushed off. “I’m a lifelong Angeleno who’s seen my home city waste away under poor leadership. THAT is my experience,” he wrote on social media last week.

A registered Republican, he would face an uphill battle in deep blue Los Angeles if he were to face Bass in November. Donald Trump, who is deeply unpopular in LA, voiced support for Pratt, saying: “I’d like to see him do well … I heard he’s a big Maga person.” When asked about the comments, Pratt distanced himself from the endorsement, emphasizing his focus on local issues as opposed to national politics.

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 by half 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 as evidence of missteps (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.

Pratt, meanwhile, has the backing of celebrities like Joe Rogan and Paris Hilton, and has received donations from the likes of the LA Lakers executive Jeanie Buss and Atlantic Records CEO, Elliot Grainge.