Raman Surges in LA Mayor’s Race, But Pratt Vows It’s Not Over

The race to become the next mayor of Los Angeles shifted over the weekend as City Councilwoman Nithya Raman gained momentum and surpassed reality star Spencer Pratt in the battle for second place.

Pratt issued a statement on Monday, June 8, reminding supporters there are still thousands of ballots that remain uncounted.

“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!” Pratt shared on social media.

Mayor Karen Bass has already secured a spot in the November runoff election, but the second place finisher from the June 2 primary has yet to be decided.

Bass leads with 250,871 votes, or 34.68% of the ballots, according to the latest numbers from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Raman is in second place with 196,198 votes, or 27.12%. Pratt follows with 193,085 votes, or 26.69%. If the numbers hold, Democrats Bass and Raman will face off in November.

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Bass faced a crowded field of challengers amid criticism over her handling of the deadly 2025 Palisades Fire, the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis, entertainment industry job losses, and a continuing housing crisis.

Following the latest election results, the mayor’s reelection campaign released a brief statement to NBC4 Los Angeles bashing Raman.

“We look forward to winning a contest against an opponent who allows [homeless] encampments near schools and fights against hiring more cops, yet is MIA on saving Hollywood jobs and fighting back when ICE invades L.A.,” the statement read.

With Pratt’s lead slipping away, a growing number of Republicans are alleging voter fraud in California elections.

Christina Bellantoni, USC Annenberg media center director, told ABC7 mail-in ballots coming in from specific neighborhoods are the reason Raman is surging.

“What you see is that they are counting votes in batches of how they arrived by mail,” Bellantoni said. “It is totally normal that as batches of votes come in, they start to overwhelmingly favor one person because of literally the date that they were mailed.”

Meanwhile on Sunday, President Trump suggested, without providing evidence, that Democrats have been cheating in California’s primary vote count as Republican candidates fall behind.

“They are dropping fast because it’s a rigged election,” Trump said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “Four days and they aren’t even close to coming up with… You know why they are doing that? Because they are cheating on the election?”

Host Kristen Welker pushed back and asked Trump for evidence of voter fraud. He became enraged and shot back, “All I have to do is look.”

Trump then began insulting Welker. He called the longtime NBC News journalist “crooked” and “stupid,” then he walked out of the interview.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who was appointed by Trump, said Friday his office opened “multiple election fraud investigations” related to California’s elections and will “conduct a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls.”

Meanwhile, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber maintained the counting process is functioning as intended.

“California’s county elections officials are hard at work counting the millions of ballots cast by California voters for the June 2 Primary Election, ensuring accuracy and preserving the integrity of every vote,” Weber said in a recent press release.

All ballots must be counted by July 2, and Weber will certify statewide results on July 10.

Every registered voter in California is sent a mail-in ballot, according to the secretary of state’s office. Those mail-in ballots accounted for a record 89% of all votes cast in statewide 2025 elections, state leaders said.

On Monday, CNN reported ballots mailed at the last minute tend to favor Democrats “in large part because Trump has turned Republicans against voting by mail.”