Who will Bass face in Los Angeles mayoral race in November? Updates

Who will join incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a runoff election in November looms on Wednesday, June 3: Will she face Spencer Pratt, an outspoken critic of hers and former reality TV star, or Nithya Raman, the progressive Los Angeles city councilmember?

Results just after 4 p.m. on Wednesday showed Bass leading with about 35% of the vote, followed by Pratt at nearly 30% and Raman (22.81%), according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Trailing behind them are Adam Miller at nearly 4% and Rae Huang at nearly 2.8%. Election officials are expected to continue counting ballots and providing updates in the days to come.

Outstanding ballots that need to be processed is 713,180 countywide, according to a preliminary estimate, with vote-by-mail ballots comprising the majority, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk announced just after 5 p.m. Wednesday. That includes vote-by-mail ballots dropped off at official ballot return locations on June 2 and ballots postmarked by June 2.

In a post on X, Bass said she’s devoted her entire life to serving the city she loves — where she was born — and that she’s going to continue to do that "all the way to victory in November."

Pratt said to reporters that he was going to accept “whatever God’s plan was" on June 2 in a clip from NBC Los Angeles.

“Now I feel very confident that I am going to continue” to “work hard, learn everything I need to learn, build my teams, show all the experience I’m going to surround myself with,” Pratt said, adding that he would have five months to put the best team around him.

“I’m going to have time to build out this team, to show everybody the level of Democratic supporters that I have behind me, the heavy-hitters that are in this room that are all behind me,” Pratt said.

Raman thanked her supporters in a clip shared by Fox 11 Los Angeles on June 2 and spoke about how votes will continue to be counted in the days to come — and that they may not get an answer they like.

"Regardless of what happens next, nobody, nobody can take away what all of us have built together,” Raman said. “At a time when so many people have written Los Angeles off, or have lost hope in the future of this incredible city, you are proof that Angelenos are hungry for change, for a city that works for everyone, a city that dreams bigger, a city that believes in itself again.”

We spoke to experts about how Bass' potential runoff matchups could shape up with Pratt or Raman. While these matchups appear likely, the race has not been called.

Pratt vs. Bass: What does a runoff election look like?

Pratt emerging victorious in a November matchup with Bass would be a challenge, experts said — and President Donald Trump referring to him as MAGA doesn’t help.

Pratt’s disadvantage is that he is running in a heavily Democratic city, according to experts.

“Pratt candidacy would depend on really running the table with Republicans, and then just having to collect disaffected anti-Karen Bass voters from a lot of different places,” said Jim Newton, veteran journalist.

Some voters unhappy with Bass are Raman voters, and they’re “very unlikely” to move to Pratt in a runoff, Newton said. Those voters are either more likely to stay at home or turn to Bass in an election, he said.

Fernando Guerra, political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, expects that Bass will win in a runoff against Pratt. Guerra, who directs the Center for the Study of Los Angeles, pointed to the city’s political makeup. Essentially, Pratt has already reached the ceiling of voters who’d support him, so he’ll have a much harder time trying to convince other voters between now and through November.

It’s an effort that may have gotten harder considering Trump’s recent comments linking Pratt to MAGA.

“I heard he's a big MAGA person," the president said in May after he was asked about the candidacy of Pratt. "He's doing well. I don't know. You have a rigged vote out there. That's the problem. You have a really rigged vote in California."

That language from Trump could damage any attempt on Pratt’s part to reach across the aisle, Guerra confirmed.

As Newton put it, if you vote for Raman over Bass, you’re likely not thrilled with the mayor’s performance, but you’re making a choice between two fairly established figures, one of whom is more liberal than the other. It’s a more traditional type of choice.

“If you're willing to vote for Spencer Pratt, then you're really pretty fed up,” Newton said. “And that's something that elected officials should pay attention to.”

Raman vs. Bass: What does a runoff election look like?

While Bass has an edge in a November election, Raman is more likely to be competitive, and possibly win, in the race compared to Pratt, according to Guerra. She’d pull in the voters for Huang — another progressive candidate — and there’ll be new voters she'll appeal to thanks to expected higher turnouts in a November election, he said.

Tom Hogen-Esch, political science professor at California State University Northridge, echoed the timing element in this race. You get a bigger slice of the electorate in a November election, and that includes numerous more young progressives in Los Angeles, he said.

“I think the big question for Raman is can she put together a sort of populist, progressive and younger-voter driven coalition,” Hogen-Esch said.

To oust Bass, Raman would have to make a “forceful case” that something is wrong with the Bass administration, Newton said.

He also posed another question that a matchup between Bass and Raman could explore: How liberal is Los Angeles, and is Bass liberal enough for it? A Raman candidacy would test whether there are enough voters to Bass’ left, Newton said.

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected].