Reality star Spencer Pratt drops out of LA mayoral race as Nithya Raman advances

Progressive city council member Nithya Raman has advanced to the November election against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, setting up an unlikely alliance between two Democrats and former political allies to keep the struggling city of about four million people going.

The result says Spencer Pratt, a Republican and former television personality The hillshe is out. His candidacy drew national attention because of his celebrity and his willingness to challenge the liberal regime in a city controlled by Democrats, but the buzz did not translate into enough votes to continue the contest.

Raman entered the race at the last minute, after he endorsed Bass for re-election. He was elected to the council with the support of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the election will test whether voters in the heavily Democratic city want to move to the left of politics to address the long-standing problems of homelessness, blocked roads and streets and rising rents and housing costs.

This race also has historical connotations. Bass is the first black woman to hold the position, while Raman could be the first South Asian woman in the job.

“If you are frustrated by the current situation, I hope you will join our movement to build a city that works for everyone,” Raman said in a statement.

“For too long, City Hall has made it a priority to give political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people are paying the price in high rents, depleted services and a city that no longer works for them.”

Bass campaign strategist Douglas Herman said, “The campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows camping near schools and stops the police, is one Mayor Bass is looking forward to winning.”

Bass are in a vulnerable state

The mayoral race was not legally bound, so candidates appeared on the ballot without party identification next to their names.

The polls suggested confidence in Bass was weak, as inconclusive results showed he received less than 35 percent of the vote, a vulnerable position for the incumbent.

Raman was in third place until Sunday, but he received the most votes according to all reviews provided by election officials in Los Angeles as of June 2, the first day.

Bass represents the Democratic Alliance as the mayor in charge, and is supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, former US vice president Kamala Harris and former Speaker of the US House Nancy Pelosi, and influential labor unions. He served in the state Legislature and Congress before running for mayor in 2022 and was considered to be Joe Biden’s running mate in 2020.

Raman — in his first run for citywide office — has promised to speed up housing construction, bring back entertainment industry jobs and improve services in a city known for dirty streets, gridlock and the homeless community that is common in many neighborhoods.

“What we’re doing right now just doesn’t work,” said Raman. “LA’s main strategy for homelessness has been to move the encampment from block to block, from your block to your neighbor’s block and back again…. It’s political theater.”

The counting of votes takes a long time

It took about a week to determine who would face Bass in November because of California’s slow vote-counting process. Ballots are mailed to all eligible voters and counted if they are postmarked on Election Day and arrive at the election office within seven days.

Los Angeles, like other counties in California, processes and counts mail-in ballots in approximately the order in which they are received, so the last ones returned are the last ones counted.

On Tuesday night after polls closed, Los Angeles released the results of early mailed and processed ballots, as well as ballots cast that day. Those votes put Bass in first with Pratt in second and Raman in third. Since then, the district has been processing and releasing the results of late ballots.

Election data shows that large numbers of Democrats withheld their mail-in ballots and returned them in the final days of the race, which helps explain why Bass and Raman did better than Pratt in votes counted from day one.

Born in India, Raman moved to the United States at a young age and earned degrees from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied urban planning.

He opposed efforts to prohibit homeless people from pitching tents within 150 meters of schools and childcare facilities. However, he appears to have softened his opposition to the no-camping zones, which were meant to curb the spread of encampments and clean roads. He voted for a lot of them in the council but later said that he will not stop them if they are elected as mayor.

Alliances are the key to victory

In diverse Los Angeles, mayors are elected by building coalitions, racially and nationally. And to cross 50 percent of the vote and win, Raman will need to get more supporters.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen, but he’s going to have to go beyond his emotional base,” said Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who sees Bass as vulnerable.

“People who did not vote for Nithya [Raman] they weren’t voting against him, they were voting for someone else. Karen [Bass] he had a lot of people voting against him,” added Carrick.