Mayor Karen Bass will advance to the general election in November, but her competitor has yet to be determined.
The incumbent will likely face reality star Spencer Pratt, as he has emerged as one of the two top contenders in the race for Los Angeles mayor Tuesday with over half of the vote counted.
At the time of writing, Mayor Bass lead with 37% of the vote with Pratt falling closely behind with 30%, according to AP. The reality star had a 10 point lead on his second position opponent Councilmember Nithya Raman, who received 20% of the vote to become L.A. mayor Tuesday evening.
If none of the candidates received over 50% of the vote on Tuesday, the top two, regardless of party affiliation, would face off in the Nov. 3 general election.
Bass gave what sounded like a victory speech at her election night event Tuesday. She told the crowd that her administration has laid a foundation for the future by moving homeless people indoors, fast-tracking new, affordable housing and strengthening the local economy.
Pratt, who did not allow media into his election night party at his go-to Mexican restaurant Don Antonio’s, convened with reporters on the sidewalk after he emerged as one of the leading candidates.
The former reality star boasted his successful mayoral bid, noting, “The communists already lost.”
Despite trailing her competitors by approximately 35,000 votes Tuesday, Raman seemed lively at her election party. Several attendees told TheWrap they are hopeful that the mail-in ballots that are still to be counted, and which historically have skewed left, will help the city councilmember advance to a runoff with Mayor Karen Bass in November.
In the 2022 mayoral primary, Rick Caruso led Bass from primarily vote center and early mail in ballots on election night. It took a week of additional vote counting for Bass to overtake Caruso for the top spot, and she went on to win by nine points in the November runoff.
The latest from UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times predicted a tight race between Bass at 26% and Councilmember Nithya Raman at 25% with former reality star Spencer Pratt closely behind at 22% in a poll among likely voters in the primary election.
Mayor Bass is the first incumbent mayor to advance to a runoff since 2005.
Since each of the candidates entered the race, the conversation about who should lead the second-largest city in the country has taken place outside of the jurisdiction of L.A. Pratt’s AI campaign videos and staunch supporters created a hive mind on social media — not to mention his last minute, half-hearted endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Though the incumbent, Mayor Bass faced an uphill battle for reelection after the city’s handling of the Palisades and Altadena fires last year, which destroyed more than 15,000 structures and left 12 people dead.
Pratt, the former star of MTV’s “The Hills,” entered the race a year after his house burned in the Palisades fire with the intention to challenge the leadership that permitted the catastrophe.
Councilmember Raman was a staunch supporter of Bass before filing her candidacy for mayor hours before the deadline on Feb. 7.
Each of the candidates have spoken about how they would support the entertainment industry. The three leading candidates received endorsements from high profile entertainment voices.
Jane Fonda, Vice President Kamala Harris, Samuel L. Jackson and Jenifer Lewis were among Bass’ supporters. David Foster, Brian Grazer, Jeanie Buss and Brett Ratner endorsed Pratt. And Raman, whose husband works as a writer-producer in the business, earned support from Mike Schur, Adam Scott, Lake Bell, Rachel Bloom, Aidy Bryant and Vanessa Bayer.
