Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman has overtaken former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt for the second spot in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff, according to updated vote totals released Sunday by the LA County Registrar-Recorder.
Raman, a progressive Democrat representing the city’s 4th Council District, now holds 27.12% of the counted ballots. Pratt, a registered Republican who ran on a law-and-order platform, sits at 26.69%. The gap stands at 3,113 votes.
Decision Desk HQ projected Sunday that Raman had secured the second of two spots in the nonpartisan primary, which advances the top two finishers to the November 3 general election regardless of party.
Decision Desk HQ projects Nithya Raman wins the second of two spots in the CA Los Angeles Mayor Nonpartisan Primary#DecisionMade: 7:57 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/PIwkJ5xxGO
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) June 7, 2026
Incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass led the field with 250,871 votes, or 34.68%. DecisionDesk HQ projected on election night that Bass would advance to the runoff.
From Election Day to Sunday
On election night, Pratt held the second position. Raman closed the gap significantly on Friday after receiving roughly twice as many votes as Pratt in that day’s ballot drop. She trailed by approximately 7,500 votes as of Saturday before surpassing Pratt in Sunday’s update.
The swing reflects California’s established pattern in which mail-in ballots counted after election night tend to favor Democratic candidates.
“We are encouraged by the latest vote count and remain grateful to the thousands of Angelenos who have powered this campaign,” Raman said in a statement to NBC Los Angeles on Sunday.
Bass’s campaign treated the Sunday tally as determinative. Campaign spokesperson Alex Stack referred to Raman as the mayor’s “general election opponent” in a statement, saying the campaign looks forward to “winning a contest against an opponent who allows encampments near schools and fights against hiring more cops.”
