One Candidate Advances In Heated L.A. Mayor’s Race — Second Spot Still Up For Grabs

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass officially secured a spot in November’s runoff election, while reality television star Spencer Pratt and far-Left Councilmember Nithya Raman continued battling for the second slot.

With roughly 63% of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning, Bass led the field with 34.8% support, according to Associated Press results. Pratt was running second with 30.4%, while Raman trailed in third at 22.3%.

The Associated Press projected Bass would advance to the runoff. As of Wednesday morning, however, the race between Pratt and Raman had not yet been called.

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Pratt, however, was already talking like the runoff matchup had been set: Spencer Pratt versus Karen Bass.

“She knows it’s on. I hope she’s ready,” Pratt said Tuesday night when asked about a potential runoff against the incumbent mayor. “I literally could not be more excited.”

A few months ago, Pratt was viewed as a long-shot candidate. Now he appears within striking distance of becoming Bass’ challenger in November.

“I was going to be happy if I wasn’t moving forward, but now I feel very confident,” he said.

The reality television star turned political outsider has built his campaign around voter frustration with homelessness, crime, and Bass’ handling of the wildfire disaster that destroyed thousands of homes. Pratt lost both his own home and his childhood home in the fire.

And while election officials were still counting ballots, Pratt was already talking about what comes next.

“We have five months to put the best team the city could ever dream of,” he said.

Pratt argued that voters have rallied behind his campaign because they are tired of politicians and want someone willing to tell them the truth.

“At the end of the day, what’s been resonating is that people just want the truth and they want to know somebody’s heart,” he said. “I try to be as true to my authentic self and I just believe a lot of Los Angeles is so excited to hear from a non-politician.”

Pratt said voters are looking for a fighter.

“They want somebody to speak the truth for their communities and fight for them,” he said. “They want a fighter that’s going to step up when the city fails them or their elected leaders fail them and I’m ready to be that person for Los Angeles.”

He also couldn’t resist taking a shot at Raman, who spent much of the campaign fighting him for second place.

“The communist already lost,” Pratt said.

Thousands of ballots remain uncounted, and election officials will continue processing votes in the coming days.

If the current results hold, Los Angeles could be headed toward one of the most unexpected mayoral runoffs in recent memory: Karen Bass versus Spencer Pratt.

Pratt made it clear he’s ready for that possibility.

“We can do debates every Friday if she’d like,” he said. “As many debates as Mayor Bass would like.”