Los Angeles is witnessing one of its most dramatic mayoral primary races in recent memory, as a late surge of votes for City Councilmember Nithya Raman has upended what once seemed a straightforward path to the November runoff for independent candidate Spencer Pratt. With the city’s famously slow ballot count continuing to trickle in, the race for second place—and the chance to challenge incumbent Mayor Karen Bass—has become a nail-biter, igniting debate over California’s election system and drawing national scrutiny.
Just days ago, Pratt, a former reality television star running as an independent, appeared firmly on track to secure a runoff spot. On June 6, 2026, he led with 28.24% of the vote to Raman’s 24.89%, according to the Associated Press. But as mail-in ballots continued to be processed, Raman began closing the gap. By Saturday night, June 7, with 78% of votes counted, Pratt’s lead had shrunk to a razor-thin margin: 27.32% to Raman’s 26.21%, as reported by Decision Desk HQ. And in a stunning twist, the latest round of ballots counted on Sunday afternoon pushed Raman ahead for the first time, giving her 27.12% to Pratt’s 26.69%.
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, has already clinched her spot in the November runoff, sitting comfortably with around 35% of the vote. But the battle for second place has become the city’s political obsession, with each new ballot batch threatening to change the trajectory of the race. The drama has left Angelenos, campaign strategists, and national political figures all voicing concerns and confusion over the process.
The late surge in Raman’s favor was especially pronounced in the most recent ballot update: she picked up 23,514 votes, more than double Pratt’s gain of 10,336 votes, according to Fox News. This dramatic swing slashed Pratt’s lead from more than 20,000 votes to just 7,494 in a single day, thrusting the contest for second place into uncharted territory. On election night, with 48% of ballots counted, Pratt had 29.55%, Raman trailed at 20.79%, and Bass led with 36.65%. The shift since then has left many voters and observers stunned.
“No way,” said Kenyatta Cole, a Pratt supporter, when told of the late surge by The Post. “I’m in shock. There’s just no way.” Cole, whose family has deep roots in Los Angeles, expressed frustration with both the unexpected swing and the slow pace of counting. “Something has to change. These ballots getting mailed out to everybody, that has to stop.”
Others, like Venice Neighborhood Council member Nico Ruderman, highlighted the anxiety caused by the drawn-out process. “People need to believe in their elections,” Ruderman told The Post. “The perception of integrity is just as important as the integrity itself. An election should be a time that brings people together. The slow count creates mistrust. It creates more division at a time when this country is really struggling to be one.”
Longtime political strategist Rick Taylor echoed these concerns, pointing out that California’s mail-in ballot system, while designed to increase participation, may be undermining public confidence. “The whole idea of mail in ballots was to increase voter participation and make voting easier,” Taylor said. “The question now is whether we’re getting enough of a turnout increase to justify a process that takes days or even weeks to finish. At some point, you start eroding public trust when people are still waiting for outcomes days after an election.”
The mechanics behind the slow count are no mystery to election officials. California law allows ballots postmarked on or before Election Day (June 2) and received by June 9 to be counted. Mail-in voting is hugely popular in the state; Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber reported in 2024 that about 13 million of 16 million presidential election votes were mailed in. “The reason a lot of the ballots haven’t been counted yet is because they were dropped in the mail Monday or Tuesday, and as long as they’re postmarked by Tuesday, they get to be counted,” explained Christian Grose, director of USC’s Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, in an interview with CBS News. “A lot of people in this election, especially, waited until the last minute to vote because there are a lot of choices on the ballot.”
But the extended timeline has sparked political controversy. The Republican National Committee has criticized the process, tracking the hours since polls closed and calling California’s election system “a complete joke.” Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, speaking to Fox News, blamed Governor Gavin Newsom for changes to election laws that have lengthened the count. “When Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California, you knew who was elected in a day to two days. Now it takes more than weeks, almost a month,” McCarthy said. He argued that changes like universal mail-in ballots and same-day registration have eroded confidence, saying, “Now we have same day voter, and you don’t have to show ID. Gavin changed the rules where he mails ballots to everyone. So he took away the choice to Californians to vote in person or to vote absentee. Everybody gets mailed a ballot. But he didn’t clean up the rolls. So that raises doubt in people’s minds.”
Social media has become a battleground for competing narratives. Pratt himself posted a meme referencing the film “A Beautiful Mind” with the caption, “Me trying to figure out how votes get counted in LA.” Conservative commentators have gone further, with Robby Starbuck writing, “Nithya did this by suddenly winning 1st in every new ballot drop. North Korean ‘elections’ have more self respect. Even they’d find it absurd for 3rd to suddenly jump to 1st place in every ballot drop DAYS after an election. It’s just ludicrous.” Elon Musk weighed in, claiming, “The reason ID is banned in California (and New York) elections is to enable large-scale fraud. When you combine no ID and mail-in voting, fraud is de facto legalized.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have pointed to simple math and the state’s overwhelming Democratic registration advantage. “IF SOMETHING CAN BE EXPLAINED BY A CONVOLUTED CONSPIRACY THEORY—OR SIMPLE MATH—THEN MATH ALWAYS WINS,” Rep. Ted Lieu posted on X. “LA Registered Voters. Approximate number of Dems: 1,224,737 Approximate number of Republicans: 326,292.”
Federal officials have also stepped in, with U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announcing investigations into claims of election fraud in both the L.A. mayoral and California gubernatorial races. Essayli has not specified any cases or details, stating only that officials will “follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.” President Donald Trump has also weighed in, alleging “BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California” and questioning why “votes are all tied up [and] may not be in for weeks.”
As the count continues, with certification not required until July 10, Los Angeles remains in suspense. Election officials are expected to release daily updates until every last ballot is processed. Whether Raman’s momentum holds or Pratt manages a comeback, the city’s contentious primary has become a national case study in the challenges—and the passions—of American democracy in 2026.
Regardless of the outcome, the race has forced Los Angeles to confront difficult questions about trust, transparency, and the future of voting in the nation’s second-largest city.