Nithya Raman Beats Spencer Pratt In Latest LA Mayoral Vote Count

The trend in Los Angeles’ mayoral primary race 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. There are more votes still to be counted, but it looks almost certain that Raman’s surge has swept the Donald Trump endorsed-Pratt out of the race in the heavily Democratic city.

Following the latest ballot results out of the June 2 primary that put progressive Raman in second place over the former reality TV regular, Monday latest count 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, or 28.56% of the counted vote compared to Pratt’s 25.83%. Put in perspective, that’s a huge jump from the 7,494 votes Raman led Pratt by on Sunday night. It is also way up from the more than 40,000-vote lead the West L.A.-centric Pratt had over Raman on June 3.

With 34.32% of the counted ballots, Bass has hauled in 275,992 votes. Long hoping to take on Pratt in a race that would have assured her easy re-election, the incumbent now faces a real race that she could well lose with an opponent who draws from the mayor’s base and her critics.

Despite projections made today by the Associated Press and CNN, it is not yet official who advances in the race for mayor against Bass in the November general election. Still, Raman was upbeat this evening as Pratt looks to be out in the real world despite his dominating online presence the past few weeks.

“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,” Raman told Deadline as the new latest 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.

Still, 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.

Today, after storming off Meet The Press on June 8 when confronted over his election meddling claims, Trump took to his social media platform to push his conspiracy theory

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.

Even though he looks to be set for the run-off against ex-CA AG Xavier Becerra, 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.