Spencer Pratt, who for a brief dizzying moment went from reality-show afterthought to the potential next mayor of Los Angeles, is back to being the person from that reality show.
The Associated Press late Monday afternoon officially called second place for his progressive rival Nithya Raman, after six days of the City Council member steadily gaining ground as more and more ballots were counted. A new batch of votes Monday took Raman’s lead from 3,000 when the day started to more than 21,000 at its close. With just 8 percent, or 65,0000, of ballots outstanding, Raman’s lead was deemed insurmountable, and the AP called it.
As of 6 p.m. PT, Pratt had not conceded, and it remains to be seen if he would object to the results on unknown grounds or graciously accept defeat. Raman also had yet to address supporters in any way.
Raman will now face incumbent mayor Karen Bass in a November runoff in a battle between two onetime Democratic allies who will argue over whether the city needs a steady moderate hand or a new progressive one to combat the many issues facing it.
Pratt jolted the system by calling out Democratic complacency, tapping into anger among independents and even many Democrats about the city’s handling of the 2025 wildfires and the homelessness crisis. But while he may have delivered a compelling message, his candidacy may have been done in by the messenger — a Republican-registered candidate in a liberal town — as many voters thought a fresh voice of a different kind was better-equipped to solve the challenges.
Despite the early lead as Republican ballots came in, in the end the race may not prove to be especially close — a current difference of three points that could mushroom to four or five by the time the final tally is in. Raman (currently 28.5 percent of the vote and rising) would well end up closer to Bass (34.3 percent) above her than Pratt (25.8 percent) below her.
Still, Pratt’s ability to garner more than 200,000 votes even as someone who had never run for office before highlighted the high levels of discontent and may have opened the door to other outsider candidates in the future who can better marshal that disgust.
Pratt — who was so sure of a matchup with Bass on Election Night he told reporters “she knows it’s on” — will likely use his newfound fame to continue his gadfly ways, though whether that’s as cable-news and social-media commentator or another office in a future election remains to be seen.
Raman was seen as an upstart when she entered the race at the 11th-hour to challenge Bass, and for a while it seemed like her splitting the Democratic vote with Bass would prevent the incumbent from reaching 50 percent and open a lane for Pratt to take her on. But Raman’s instincts proved correct as she defied the predictions. She’ll now seek to do it again against the favored Bass.
