Washington: In a major shift for the Los Angeles mayoral race, Kerala-born City Council member Nithya Raman has climbed into second place in the primary election. Raman has overtaken reality TV personality Spencer Pratt, positioning herself to challenge the current mayor, Karen Bass, in the upcoming November election.

Mayor Bass, a 72-year-old former Democratic Congresswoman, has already secured her spot in the November runoff. Latest data from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk indicates she maintains the lead with 34.7% of the vote.

The primary election concluded on January 2, and election officials have processed roughly 80% of the total ballots so far.

Raman, 44, has consistently closed the gap as mail-in and late ballots were processed. She currently holds 27.1% of the vote, putting her ahead of Pratt by slightly more than 3,000 votes. Pratt, running as a Republican, held the runner-up spot since election night but has now dropped to third place with 26.69%.

First elected to the LA City Council in 2020, Raman’s initial victory over incumbent David Ryu was widely regarded as a "political earthquake". She later secured her re-election in 2024.

Under Los Angeles election rules, a mayoral candidate can avoid a runoff by capturing more than 50% of the vote in the primary. Because no candidate reached that threshold, the top two candidates, irrespective of political party, move on to the nonpartisan November runoff.

Raman immigrated to Louisiana from India at the age of six. She later completed her undergraduate studies in political theory at Harvard University before earning a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT.

PTI