Raman defeats Pratt to face Bass in LA mayoral election, CBS News projects
Nithya Raman overtook Spencer Pratt to advance against Mayor Karen Bass in Los Angeles' November runoff. The race tightened as remaining votes were counted, with homelessness and public safety central.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
CBS News projects Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman will move on to the November mayoral runoff against incumbent Karen Bass after passing Spencer Pratt in late vote counting. The race has been shaped by citywide frustration over homelessness, public safety, housing costs, and the fallout from 2025 fires and immigration enforcement clashes.
Los Angeles is picking its next mayor, and the race has become a two-person contest. Nithya Raman passed Spencer Pratt in the vote count, so she will now face Mayor Karen Bass, like moving from a preliminary game into the final round.
Analysis
What happened
CBS News projects that Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman will advance to the November general election and face incumbent Karen Bass for mayor. Raman moved ahead of political newcomer Spencer Pratt after late vote updates from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, reversing an election-night deficit.
With 93% of the vote counted, Bass had 34.3% and Raman had 28.5%. Pratt, who had briefly led Raman by about six percentage points for second place, slipped back as more ballots were added. CBS News had already projected Bass to advance on election night.
Why the race tightened
The article says the contest was closely watched well before Election Day. A May 28 UC Berkeley-LA Times poll showed Bass at 26%, Raman at 25%, and Pratt at 22%, while a UCLA Luskin poll found 40% of likely voters were undecided. A later UC Berkeley-LA Times survey showed most of those undecided voters had picked a side, with the undecided share falling to 10%.
The political backdrop
The race has drawn national attention because it sits in the shadow of major events in Los Angeles in 2025, including the Palisades and Eaton fires in January and later immigration enforcement raids and protests. Raman framed her campaign as a challenge to what she called a broken status quo, arguing that the city has stopped working for ordinary residents.
Raman was once an ally of Bass and had endorsed her before launching her own bid in February. She has said Bass has not adequately addressed homelessness and that her attempts to work with City Hall ran into "a wall" of inaction, according to the CBS LA interview cited in the article.
Bass' campaign responded sharply after Raman moved ahead, saying Bass would welcome a contest against an opponent it accused of allowing encampments near schools and opposing more hiring for police. Pratt had not commented by Monday evening, according to the story.
Key points
- CBS News projects Nithya Raman will face Karen Bass in the November Los Angeles mayoral runoff.
- Raman moved ahead of Spencer Pratt after later vote counts from Los Angeles County.
- With 93% counted, Bass had 34.3% and Raman had 28.5%.
- Polls showed a large undecided bloc before Election Day, making the race highly fluid.
- Homelessness, public safety, housing costs, and the city's 2025 crises are central issues in the campaign.
If the runoff sharpens the debate, voters could get a clearer choice on homelessness, public safety, and affordability. A competitive race may also push both campaigns to address the city’s recent crises in more detail and turn out more voters.
The runoff could harden into another bitter fight over policing, encampments, and City Hall trust rather than produce workable solutions. If the same frustrations remain unresolved, the race may deepen voter cynicism instead of building confidence in the city’s leadership.
