Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will face City Council member Nithya Raman in a runoff election for Bass\u2019 job in November, NBC News projects, teeing up a one-on-one matchup between two Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bass and Raman, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, emerged from a crowded all-party primary field that included former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican who ran an insurgent campaign focused on criticizing Bass for her response to the Los Angeles wildfires last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since no candidate earned more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers go to a runoff this fall. NBC News previously projected Bass would advance to the general election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Pratt was in second place behind Bass on election night, the successive vote tallies have been more Democratic-leaning, allowing Raman to surpass Pratt. It\u2019s part of a pattern all over California in this primary, with late-counted votes leaning more Democratic after a late surge in turnout by party members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bass, a former member of Congress, was first elected mayor in 2022, when she defeated real estate developer Rick Caruso in an expensive race. But she faced backlash during and after last year\u2019s destructive wildfires, including for being out of the country when they broke out. The fires burned over 16,000 structures, and at times, fire hydrants and water tanks ran out of water, limiting efforts to fight the blaze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In March, 56% of respondents in a Los Angeles Times poll of the city said they had unfavorable views of the mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was against that backdrop that Raman decided this year to launch a bid for mayor, despite close political ties with Bass. Raman had endorsed Bass for re-election before she entered the race herself, and Bass backed her during her contested City Council re-election campaign in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her campaign launch, Raman told supporters: \u201cMy team and I have tried so hard to intervene aggressively on the most urgent issues that this city is facing, our housing and homelessness crisis, building a better safety response, getting our basic services to work for people. But over and over again, in the building, in City Hall, I found myself running into a wall of reluctance, a reluctance to move forward with the transformative policy change that this city needs right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bass pushed back during the campaign, arguing that Raman failed to use her seat on the council to push the changes she says are necessary. \u201cThe problem,\u201d Bass said at a debate with Raman before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association in May, \u201cis that for you to act like you\u2019re brand new or you\u2019ve been on the outside for the last almost six years is not accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the campaign trail, Bass also acknowledged the public\u2019s frustrations over issues like the wildfires and widespread homelessness in Los Angeles while touting progress her administration has made. And in an election night speech last week, Bass projected confidence about re-election, though it wasn\u2019t clear at that point whom she would face in the runoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI appreciate you for believing in me. I appreciate you for standing with me when others doubted me, because you know who I am,\u201d Bass said. \u201cI have devoted my entire life to serving the city that I love, where I was born, and I\u2019m going to continue to do that all the way to victory in November.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bass\u2019 wobbly standing with voters led to challenges from both the left and the right. Pratt\u2019s presence in the race, from the social media videos he amplified to the broadsides he delivered against Bass, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other prominent state Democrats, drew higher-than-usual levels of national attention to the election. Pratt, the former star of 2000s MTV show \u201cThe Hills,\u201d lost his house in last year\u2019s fires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He not only blamed Bass for the mass destruction from last year\u2019s wildfires but also pledged to eliminate the city\u2019s homelessness crisis if he were elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Donald Trump didn\u2019t issue a formal endorsement, but he praised Pratt\u2019s bid, saying: \u201cI\u2019d like to see him do well. He\u2019s a character.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raman\u2019s move to the runoff election will create a very different type of race from the one Bass would have had against Pratt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the primary, a Los Angeles Times poll tested three one-on-one matchups. The survey showed both Bass and Raman with wide leads in potential matchups with Pratt, with the results looking like a more traditional partisan contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Democrat-versus-Democrat matchup between Bass and Raman was different. Raman took 32% support to Bass\u2019 28% in that scenario in the poll \u2014 a lead within the margin of error \u2014 while a whopping 40% of respondents said they weren\u2019t sure or wouldn\u2019t vote, pointing to a more volatile campaign and more voters unsure about what they want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n