Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and city council member Nithya Raman have secured the top two spots in Los Angeles's mayoral primary, according to Decision Desk HQ's projections reported by the source.. With roughly 87 percent of ballots counted, Bass leads at 34.68 percent, followed by Raman at 27.12 percent, while Republican reality TV personality Spencer Pratt has dropped to third with 26.69 percent. The shift occurred as mail-in ballots—a typical Democratic-leaning vote in California—were processed throughout the week, flipping Pratt's earlier lead into a decisive third-place finish.

How mail-in ballots flipped Pratt's early advantage into a 27% third-place finish

The source reports that Pratt had initially led Raman in early counts, but the processing of mail-in ballots—which tend to favor Democratic candidates in California—pushed Raman ahead. This pattern is consistent with recent California elections, where mail-in ballots often reshape results days after polls close.. The final tally as of the source's report shows Bass leading by a wide margin, with Raman just 0.43 points ahead of Pratt—a razor-thin gap that underscores the fragility of Pratt's late-stage collapse.

Two Democrats on a nonpartisan ballot: what the 34% and 27% vote totals really mean

Although the mayoral race is officially nonpartisan, both Bass and Raman are registered Democrats, while Pratt is a registered Republican. According to the source, this dynamic ensures a general election contest between two Democrats, reflecting Los Angeles's heavily liberal electorate. Bass's 34.68 percent represents a strong but not commanding lead for an incumbent, while Raman's 27.12 percent shows she has consolidated a significant progressive base. The source notes that Pratt's 26.69 percent, while not enough to advance, indicates a notable Republican and independent turnout in a city where GOP candidates rarely exceed 20 percent in mayoral races.

Spencer Pratt's unceded concession: the July 6 deadline and the search for phantom votes

Pratt has not conceded the race. According to the source, he stated on Sunday that his campaign may wait until July 6 to count all votes and that his team is still looking for additional ballots. This extended counting window is typical for California, where properly postmarked ballots received up to seven days after Election Day are included in the final tally.. The source does not indicate whether Pratt has a legal path to overturn the result, and the gap of roughly 0.43 percentage points (about 2,500 votes) would be difficult to bridge through late-arriving mail.

What a 100% Democratic runoff means for Los Angeles's liberal identity

With both general election candidates being Democrats, the November runoff will focus on intra-party differences rather than partisan attacks.. The source frames this as a reflection of the city's liberal electorate, but the outcome also highlights the marginalization of Republican voices in Los Angeles polittics. Broader context: major California cities have seen Democratic-only mayoral runoffs before (e.g., San Francisco in 2018, Oakland in 2022), but Los Angeles's size—America's second-largest city—magnifies the implications for national Democratic coalition-building. The campaign between Bass and Raman will test whether establishment pragmatism (Bass) or progressive reform (Raman) resonates more with the city's voters.

Open questions remain:Will Pratt formally concede, or will he exhaust the counting process? And how will the final certified numbers change the narrative—could late-arriving ballots still tip Raman or even Bass ahead of the other? The source does not include comments from the Bass or Raman campaigns on their runoff strategies. Readers should watch for the July 6 certification deadline and the candidates' first post-primary policy proposals.