Pratt voters decide LA mayor race
218,000 primary ballots cast for Spencer Pratt now split between Karen Bass and Nithya Raman in the Tuesday runoff.
By Ethan Cook ·
A bloc of 218,000 voters who selected Spencer Pratt in the June 2 primary holds the key to the Los Angeles mayoral runoff. Incumbent Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman are currently tied at 40% support among likely voters, according to the latest Berkeley Institute of Governmental Affairs and Los Angeles Times poll. The contest requires both candidates to convert Pratt’s supporters, who represent a voting pool nearly five times larger than the 44,800-vote gap separating the top two candidates from the primary.
In the June 2 primary, Bass captured over a third of the total vote. Raman finished second with 29%, while Pratt placed third with 25.5%. That initial result set the stage for the current deadlock, where 45% of Pratt’s former backers remain undecided. The geographic distribution of these undecided voters is concentrated in specific parts of the city, creating distinct battlegrounds for the final two weeks of the campaign.
Pratt’s support was strongest in the West Valley and the wealthy enclaves of the Westside. He carried 20% of the city’s 739 precincts, including areas such as Woodland Hills, Encino, Granada Hills, and Pacific Palisades. In the northwest Valley corridor from Chatsworth to Porter Ranch, Pratt led in 76 precincts that cast roughly 120,000 votes. He received 40.5% of the ballot in those specific areas, while Bass finished second and Raman garnered 19%.
Wealthier Westside neighborhoods presented a different dynamic. Pratt swept Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, and Bel-Air, earning approximately 50% of the vote in the latter two communities. His home in Pacific Palisades was destroyed in the January 2025 fires. Despite Pratt’s dominance in these areas, Raman outperformed Bass in several of his strongholds, including precincts in Pico-Robertson, Brentwood, and Beverly Grove.
The northeast Valley offered another distinct voting pattern. In the foothill communities of Sunland, Tujunga, and Shadow Hills, Pratt captured 44% of the vote. Bass secured 28% and Raman received 18% in that district, which contains 38,000 registered voters. Turnout in these Pratt-leaning precincts was 46%, significantly higher than the 37% average recorded in the rest of the city during the primary.
San Pedro and parts of Harbor City formed the final major concentration of Pratt support. He won 42% of the vote across 11 precincts in that region. Raman recorded her weakest performance in these areas with 16% of the total. Bass performed well in the city’s 43 majority-Latino neighborhoods, winning 35 of them, while Pratt managed 22% support in those districts.
The runoff election is scheduled for Tuesday. Local Supervisor Lindsey Horvath endorsed Raman this month, potentially opening new avenues for support in the Westside and Valley. In the 2022 mayoral race, all but three of the neighborhoods where Pratt won in the June primary had strongly favored developer Rick Caruso over Bass. Caruso stated this week that he will vote for Bass in the upcoming election.
