Los Angeles Democrat Mayor Karen Bass is moving on to a runoff election after failing to secure the 51% of votes required to win outright in a reelection campaign that has garnered global attention.
As Bass attempts to win a second term as mayor of Los Angeles, she has faced intense political criticism from both the left and the right.
Challenger Spencer Pratt has criticized Bass from the right for not holding the government responsible for things like disaster response and homelessness.
Nithya Raman, a fellow Democratic candidate from the left, has criticized Bass for not doing enough to advance affordability.
According to preliminary poll results, Pratt is in second place, and Raman is even further behind.
No candidate appears likely to exceed the 50% threshold to win outright, which means the top two will meet head-to-head in the November election.
Pratt has not officially been declared as finishing in second place, but his margin over Ramen is very likely to be too much for her to overcome.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed Bass earlier this month.
Bass first won election to office in 2022 in a 54.8% to 45.2% victory over independent challenger Rick J. Caruso.
A business leader and former city council candidate said Spencer Pratt’s rise in the Los Angeles mayoral race is a result of voters’ unhappiness with the status quo on crime, the recent wildfires, and the unfriendly business climate.
“I think a lot of people are concerned about what’s happening, they really don’t know how to fix this, and I think the crime, the homelessness, the addiction, all the above behaviors of what’s happened in our city,” said John Putnam, the president of Putnam Brands & Putnam Accessory Group.
“The politicians that are causing this, I think a lot people are seeing that,” Putnam added.
“And I think Spencer’s actually bringing the light in a real way. He’s pretty basic with his delivery of his issues,” Putnam continued.
“And I think that’s resonating a lot. Even if you don’t want to vote for him, you’re listening, though and I think that’s resonating with a lot of people,” Putnam declared.
“California’s got a big issue, but the city, especially where we live, Santa Monica, is a byproduct of what’s happened in Los Angeles and across the world,” Putnam said.
SPENCER PRATT WILL FACE BASS IN RUNOFF for LA MAYOR:
‘I didn't know I would be here tonight, but it's obviously God's plan, and I'm going to go all the way and I'm going to show everybody that I'm their MAYOR’ pic.twitter.com/jgJMBX03sx
— RT (@RT_com) June 3, 2026
🚨 WOW! Spencer Pratt just ADVANCED to a runoff mayoral election in LA after Karen Bass gets barely a THIRD of the vote
Pratt is currently over 30%, 2nd place! 🔥👏🏻
“Obviously, God wanted 5 more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor.”
1v1 matchup, time for LA to…
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 3, 2026
🚨RACE CALL: Spencer Pratt is projected to advance to a runoff against incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass. pic.twitter.com/eoRayLEhUj
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) June 3, 2026
This comes after two incidents of attempted election interference may have occurred in Long Beach and elsewhere before the June 2 primary election.
The county registrar-recorder stated that the burned votes were discovered during the routine collection of ballots at an official ballot drop box located at the Department of Public Social Services-Civic Center in Los Angeles.
The fire occurred sometime between the last ballot pickup on Saturday and the first ballot pickup on Sunday, and it involved a “small number” of ballots, according to officials.
Vandalism was discovered on Sunday morning at the voting center located in Long Beach’s Cesar E. Chavez Park.
The county registrar-recorder’s office said election workers responded and that voting operations were uninterrupted.
The county registrar-recorder stated that it is ‘carefully reviewing both incidents and working to identify any voters who may have been affected.’
“Replacement ballots are possible,” remarked the county registrar-recorder.
