Karen Bass, the embattled Los Angeles mayor, has been forced into a runoff against progressive challenger Nithya Raman after Spencer Pratt failed to advance from the primary in the nation’s second largest city.
Pratt, the former reality television personality whose mayoral campaign attracted extensive tabloid coverage, was in third place on Monday. Bass will instead face Raman, a Democratic city council member and former ally who has built her campaign around what she describes as the major’s management failures, including her handling of the January 2025 wildfire in Pacific Palisades and its aftermath.
“For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them,” Raman said in a statement Monday following the Associated Press race call. “If you’re as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you’ll join our movement to build a city that works for everyone.”
Raman will not only face Bass in the runoff. She will also contend with a City Council where a majority of members have publicly backed the mayor. That dynamic could shape the race and raise questions about how Raman navigates council meetings while challenging a mayor supported by many of his colleagues.
Still, Raman has emerged as a fresh alternative and may attract voters dissatisfied with Bass’s leadership.
Raman, 44, has argued that Los Angeles needs stronger leadership to address its housing and homelessness crises, improve emergency response times, and support the struggling film and television industry. She has released detailed plans on housing, small business development, transportation, and climate policy, all aimed at overhauling the city’s bureaucracy.
Pratt’s exit does little to clear the path for Bass’s reelection. A recent poll from UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies found Raman leading Bass in a hypothetical head to head matchup, with 32 percent of respondents supporting Raman and 28 percent supporting Bass.
Bass, 72, is the first incumbent Los Angeles mayor to be pushed into a runoff since 2005. She was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana when the wildfire erupted and has faced criticism for her response to the crisis. Her approval ratings have yet to recover, with 57 percent of voters holding an unfavorable view of her, according to the IGS survey. By comparison, about 35 percent of voters surveyed viewed Raman unfavorably.
After several higher profile candidates opted not to challenge Bass, Raman entered the race just hours before the filing deadline in February.
Raman was the first in a wave of progressive Los Angeles leaders elected since 2020. That year, she unseated an incumbent council member for the first time in nearly two decades and became the first candidate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America to win public office in Los Angeles. She also received more votes than any City Council candidate in the city’s history.
Raman won reelection two years ago despite a redistricting process that significantly altered her district and despite being outspent by opponents who argued she was too progressive.
Bass continues to enjoy the support of much of the city’s political establishment, including fellow council members, labor organizations, and business groups. But Raman’s strong polling and Bass’s weak favorability ratings have positioned the council member as a serious threat in the runoff.
