The Associated Press projected Monday afternoon that Councilmember Nithya Raman had advanced to the November runoff in the Los Angeles mayoral race, setting up a contest against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass after Raman erased a roughly 40,000-vote deficit from election night.
The projection came two days after Raman moved into second place since ballots began being counted less than a week ago and following several days of shrinking margins between Raman and former reality television star Spencer Pratt.
As of Monday afternoon’s latest vote count update, Bass led the field with 34.32% of the vote, followed by Raman with 28.55% and Pratt with 25.83%. Raman led Pratt by roughly 21,800 votes after trailing him by about 40,000 votes on election night.
The AP estimated that roughly 93% of votes had been counted as of Monday afternoon.
Raman celebrated the projection Monday evening, calling it an opportunity to continue her campaign for what she described as “a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles.”
“I’m incredibly honored that voters have given us the opportunity to advance to the general election for Mayor of Los Angeles,” Raman said in a statement. “To the thousands of supporters who knocked doors, made calls, sent texts, donated, and opened their homes for events across the city, and to everyone else who made this moment possible: thank you, from the bottom of my heart.”
Raman also renewed her criticism of City Hall, arguing that “working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them.”
Bass’ campaign quickly welcomed the matchup.
“A campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning,” said Douglas Herman, a strategist for the Bass campaign.
A Bass-Raman runoff would pit the incumbent mayor against a progressive challenger who has positioned herself to Bass’ left on issues including homelessness, housing and public safety.
Bass is running on her record as an incumbent who says she has reduced homelessness, expanded affordable housing, driven down crime and begun tackling long-neglected infrastructure problems.
Raman has argued that the city remains too slow, too expensive and too poorly managed, pointing to broken streetlights, potholes, rising housing costs, costly homelessness programs and what she describes as a lack of urgency from City Hall. At debates and forums throughout the campaign, Raman cast herself as a systems-focused challenger who would push city departments harder, while Bass argued Raman shares responsibility for the city’s homelessness response as a city councilmember and as chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee.
The two have also sharply differed over policing and homelessness enforcement. Bass has called for hiring more officers and defending her Inside Safe homelessness program, while Raman has criticized the cost of police raises, called for broader public-safety responses and argued that the city needs a more accountable and cost-effective homelessness system.
Pratt’s campaign did not immediately respond Monday evening to a request for comment on the AP projection.
Earlier Monday, before the AP call, Pratt urged supporters to remain patient as ballots continued to be counted.
“Folks, we’re dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and L.A. officials have given us the next three weeks to count! Let’s git-r-dun,” Pratt wrote on X.
The shifting vote totals have also drawn national attention. President Donald Trump repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that fraud was affecting California’s vote count and reacted to Ramans’ overtaking Pratt by declaring on Truth Social early Monday that there was “No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!”