Nithya Raman Beats Spencer Pratt In Latest LA Mayoral Vote Count
The trend in Los Angeles’ mayoral campaign continues to lean Nithya Raman‘s way as the two-term City Council member grew her lead over Spencer Pratt for a run-off against incumbent Karen Bass.
Following the latest ballot results of the June 2 primary that puts progressive Raman in second place over the former Reality TV regular, today’s drop had the representative for L.A.’s Hollywood heavy 4th District garnering 229,576 votes to Pratt’s 207, 757.
That’s around a 22,000 vote lead for Raman. Which gives Raman 28.56% of the counted vote to Pratt’s 25.83%.
Put in perspective, that’s a strong jump from the e 7,494 votes Raman was ahead of Pratt last night. It is also way up from the more than 40,000 vote lead the West L.A. centric Pratt had over Raman back on June 3.
Still, while not official as to who advances in the race for Mayor against Bass, Raman was upbeat Monday evening.
“To the thousands of supporters who knocked doors, made calls, sent texts, donated, and opened their homes for events across the city, and everyone else who made this moment possible: thank you, from the bottom of my heart,” comeback Councilmember Raman told Deadline as the new results from the June 2 primary came in.
“Now our fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles continues. For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them,” Raman added. “If you’re as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you’ll join our movement to build a city that works for everyone.”
Of course, with her rival for the November run-off now pretty much locked in, the team for first term Mayor Bass was, like after yesterday’s vote tally was made public, on the attack against her ex-political ally. “A campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning,” campaign strategist Douglas Herman said to Deadline today.
Once touted as Bass’ election foe, The Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions from a Reality TV Villain author Pratt was taking an uncharacteristically circumspect approach Monday before the latest votes were in. “Folks, we’re dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next 3 weeks to count!” Hotel Bel-Air occupant and ex-Palisades homeowner Pratt, who has promised to leave L.A. if he doesn’t become the city’s 44th Mayor, tweeted this morning.
Regardless of his total lack of electoral experience and below-the-belt style, Pratt does deserve a nod for getting as far as he has in a city where less than 15% of citizens are registered Republicans.
Stil, to that, certain Republicans are stamping their feet and more over the results and the process out West.
MAGA loyalist like VP JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Bill Essayli, MAGA loyalist and First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California have all lashed out with no evidence in recent days against the Golden State’s comprehensive and admittedly slow tallying of the votes. Unsurprisingly they have all followed the lead of Donald Trump with the former Apprentice host calling what’s going on in solidly Blue California a “crooked” election. In that audience of one vein, Federal prosecutors have already opened an investigation and it is widely assumed Pratt with seek a recount, if not take the whole thing to court.
GOP gubernatorial contender and ex-Fox News host Steve Hilton has set a press conference for Tuesday over the rate at which the ballots are being counted in the Brit’s adopted state.
More results could come Tuesday between 4- 5 p.m. PT. With a total of 2.09 million counted votes cast in last week’s primary in L.A., there are still over 3.8 million registered voters uncounted — though clearly not all of them voted.
