Spencer Pratt’s bid for L.A. mayor has seemingly come to an end.
Multiple outlets reported on Monday, June 8, that Pratt’s rival Nithya Raman will officially advance to face Mayor Karen Bass head-to-head in November.
“I’m incredibly honored that voters have given us the opportunity to advance to the general election for Mayor of Los Angeles,” Raman, 44, said to Us Weekly in a Monday 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 and Pratt, 44, battled for a second place finish in the June 2 primary, which would see one of them advance to a November general election faceoff with Mayor Bass, 72. (Under California rules, the top two vote-getters advance to a general election unless one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the primary vote.)
Pratt’s early second place lead on election night eroded as mail-in ballots were received and counted over the last week. The Associated Press and other outlets called the race for second place for Raman on Monday, as she polled at 28.6 percent to Pratt’s 25.8 percent. (Bass held a commanding lead with 34.3 percent of the vote, having already advanced to the November election last week.)
“Now our fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles continues,” Raman said in a statement on Monday. “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.”
She concluded, “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.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the Pratt campaign for comment.
Earlier on Monday, Pratt tried to quiet growing anger among his supporters by suggesting that his campaign staff was not giving up.
“Folks, we’re dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next 3 weeks to count! Let’s git-r-dun,” he tweeted.
President Donald Trump — who endorsed Pratt last month — reacted to Pratt’s dwindling standings in the L.A. mayoral race by claiming without evidence that the race was fixed. (Pratt, a registered Republican, resisted direct alignment with Trump, 79, insisting in May that “there’s no R next to my name, there’s no D next to my name.” He ran for mayor as a nonpartisan community activist.)
“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections,” Trump wrote via Truth Social on Monday.
Election watchers in California predicted before the June 2 primary that it could take days or weeks to determine the vote totals due to the process of counting mail-in ballots.
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