\n She defeats Pratt, a Republican former reality TV star who generated buzz with a focus on homelessness and Bass\u2019 response to the devastating Palisades fire.\n <\/p>\n
\n Raman, a city councilmember, may be a tougher opponent for Bass in November than Pratt would have been. While the mayoral election is officially nonpartisan, Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in Los Angeles, and Raman has campaigned as a progressive outsider against Bass.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cRight now, we have a city that feels rudderless,\u201d Raman told CNN\u2019s Elex Michaelson before the primary. \u201cSo many positions that haven\u2019t been filled, places where Angelenos feel abandoned on some of the most important issues facing this city. I will bring that urgency, I will bring that accountability, I will bring that focus that Los Angeles needs and that Angelenos need.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Pratt was in second behind Bass on election night, but he lost ground to Raman as the vote count progressed. California elections often take several days to resolve, a function of the nation\u2019s most populous state running a largely mail-in election in which properly postmarked ballots received up to seven days after Election Day can be counted.\n <\/p>\n
\n Raman overtaking Pratt was becoming increasingly likely in recent days.\n <\/p>\n
\n Votes reported after election night in California tend to shift toward Democrats, as they typically include mail ballots that were cast closer to Election Day itself.\n <\/p>\n
\n Across all votes reported in the June 2 primary since the close of election night counting, Raman had outperformed both Bass and Pratt through Sunday, gaining 43,000 votes on Pratt and increasing her overall share of the vote by about 5 points.\n <\/p>\n
\n Reports this weekend were her strongest of the contest, with Raman winning about 40% of each batch and Pratt around 18%.\n <\/p>\n
\n On election night last week, Pratt said that he appealed to any city resident \u201cthat just wants basic quality of life,\u201d regardless of party.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m an Angeleno who said, \u2018Enough is enough,\u2019 and I had to step up,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to show everybody that I\u2019m their mayor.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
![\"Spencer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/c-ap26154203747928.jpg\")
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\n In recent weeks, Pratt, the one-time villain of MTV\u2019s \u201cThe Hills,\u201d gained national praise from Republicans and those in President Donald Trump\u2019s orbit. A filmmaker who supports Pratt created an artificial intelligence video that portrays Pratt as Batman and Bass as the Joker, and features Los Angeles residents pelting the state\u2019s best-known Democratic figures with tomatoes.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pratt\u2019s supporters \u2013 and Trump \u2013 criticized how the city and state run elections in recent days as Pratt\u2019s lead over Raman narrowed. Trump ended an interview Sunday with NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d after accusing local officials of \u201ccheating.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n California has long had a reputation for being slow to report the results. That\u2019s because a significant number of the total votes come in as mail ballots are dropped off on Election Day, according to the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the election process.\n <\/p>\n
\n First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli, a Trump appointee who leads the Los Angeles-based US attorney\u2019s office, posted last week that there was \u201cevidence of election fraud in California,\u201d adding that \u201cinvestigations are underway.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But Essayli later Friday also affirmed that it was untrue that a vote-count update on election night showed Pratt receiving zero new votes. Several conservatives, including Elon Musk, had shared that theory.\n <\/p>\n