Spencer Pratt Eliminated as Nithya Raman Advances to LA Mayoral Runoff

Former reality television star Spencer Pratt has been officially eliminated from the race for Los Angeles Mayor. The Associated Press confirmed this result at 7:55 pm ET on Monday, declaring that progressive challenger Nithya Raman will move forward to a runoff election. She faces incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass in the next round of voting.

Pratt held the second-place position until Sunday, when Raman gained momentum as officials tallied mail-in ballots. California residents were permitted to send these ballots up until 8 p.m. on Election Day, and the demographic generally leans toward liberal and Democratic preferences. President Donald Trump dispatched a senior Justice Department official to Los Angeles on Friday. This official was sent to oversee the counting process while the President falsely claimed that California Democrats were rigging the election.

Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican, entered the contest as a vengeance campaign against Bass. This motivation followed his loss of a $3 million home in the Palisades fire last year. He is a well-known alum of the popular reality show The Hills, where he met his wife, Heidi Montag. His campaign received support from user-created AI videos and creative advertisements produced by his team. In these ads, Pratt pledged to act as a change agent to address the city's massive homeless problem.

The Associated Press initially declared that Bass would advance to the November election on Tuesday night. However, it took several days to count the remaining mail-in ballots to definitively determine her opponent. On Election Night, Raman appeared emotional while addressing supporters, as she seemed to be in a distant third place at that moment. Pratt, conversely, voiced confidence that he would secure a spot in the runoff race.

Speaking to reporters outside Don Antonio's, a Mexican restaurant, Pratt expressed excitement about the upcoming challenge. He stated that Bass knows the race is on and hoped she was ready for the fight. He described his own team as being more than excited for the contest. Pratt posted pictures of himself posing in front of LA City Hall on Friday, telling his supporters to have patience as the count continued.

As more ballots were processed, Raman began to overtake the former reality TV star in the polls. Journalists were instructed to wait outside Spencer Pratt's election night watch party, forcing TV reporters to conduct live shots from the street. Supporters, including a man named Gregg Donovan, wore top hats and held signs for Pratt outside the venue. Comedian Heather McDonald also attended the election night party in Los Angeles on Tuesday night.

She is considered a much more threatening challenger to Bass. The incumbent took heat last year for attending an embassy cocktail party in Ghana while fires were raging, according to the LA Times. Democrats outnumber Republicans in LA County by a ratio of three to one. Raman entered the mayoral race in February, just hours before the filing deadline, despite previously being a political ally of Bass. She was backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, who recently saw success in New York City with the election of Mayor Zohran Mamdani.