By Los Angeles County Politics
Five days after the June 2 primary, the latest ballot drop from the LA County Registrar is rewriting the race for Los Angeles mayor — and setting up what political analysts now say could be a genuinely competitive November showdown between incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who has seized second place and is showing no signs of slowing down.
In Yesterday’s 4:50 p.m. update — the most current available — Bass holds first at 34.68%, Raman sits at 27.12%, and Spencer Pratt has fallen to 26.69%. The margin between Raman and Pratt: 3,113 votes. More telling than the standings is the trajectory. In Saturday’s ballot drop alone, Raman took in 19,096 new votes — the most of any candidate in that update. Bass was second with 15,691. Pratt drew just 8,489. The math is unambiguous: the uncounted ballots are breaking sharply against Pratt and toward Raman.
“We are encouraged by the latest vote count and remain grateful to the thousands of Angelenos who have powered this campaign,” Raman said in a statement issued by her campaign Saturday.
NBC News has not yet projected who will join Bass in the November runoff. With thousands of mail and provisional ballots still to be counted through June 26, the race for second remains technically open — but the direction of travel is clear.
While the primary is nonpartisan, Bass has served Congress as a Democrat and Raman is a self-described Democrat. A Bass-Raman November matchup would be a Democrat-versus-Democrat race — and not a comfortable one for the incumbent. Raman, a former Bass ally, would be challenging her from the left.
Raman campaigned on promises to reduce inequality, revive the slumping entertainment industry, and build more housing. She was elected to the City Council with support from the Democratic Socialists of America. The contrast with Bass is ideological and personal. Bass helped Raman win re-election to her council seat in 2024. Raman entered the mayor’s race against Bass hours before the February filing deadline — a move some in Democratic circles called a betrayal.
Bass enters November wounded. More than 40% of registered Los Angeles voters said they thought Bass did a poor or very poor job responding to the January 2025 wildfires, while just 19% characterized her response as excellent or good.
A preprimary Los Angeles Times poll found both Bass and Raman leading in one-on-one matchups with Pratt — and Raman with a small advantage inside the margin of error in a direct general election matchup with Bass. That poll was conducted before the primary, before Raman’s late surge, and before Saturday’s ballot drop. The political landscape has only grown more favorable to Raman since.
Gaspar Falls Below 50% — CD3 Goes to November
The other significant development in Saturday’s data involves the LA City Council District 3 race, where Timothy Gaspar has dropped to 46.87% — down from 49.37% in the previous update. When LACP last reported on this race, Gaspar was tantalizingly close to the 50%-plus-one threshold that would have handed him an outright June victory and avoided a runoff entirely. That window has now closed. Gaspar leads Barri Worth Girvan 46.87% to 41.76%, and the lead may narrow further when voting is finished, with C.R. Celona eliminated at 11.37%. The race goes to November. Celona’s roughly 4,868 votes are now the prize — both Gaspar and Girvan will spend the next five months competing for those voters.
CD-27: Whitesides Closing but Gibbs Holds
Republican and Santa Clarita Councilmember Jason Gibbs leads Democrat incumbent U.S. Rep. George Whitesides 41.97% to 40.31% in the Antelope Valley’s CD-27 — a margin of roughly 2,221 votes that has held relatively steady through multiple ballot drops.
Whitesides is closing with each update, as the district’s Democratic-leaning mail voters are counted, but Gibbs has proven more durable than some Democrats hoped.
Both advance to November under California’s top-two system for what will be one of the region’s most competitive House races this fall.
Torrance Mayor: Kalani Now Leads by 395 Votes
In Torrance, challenger Sharon Kalani has taken the lead over incumbent Mayor George Chen, 50.53% to 49.47% — a margin of just 395 votes out of more than 37,200 cast. Torrance Watch estimates between 4,000 and 7,000 votes remain to be counted in the mayoral race, meaning this contest remains entirely fluid. Both candidates are registered Republicans.
Chen has served as mayor since 2022; Kalani is a 25-year banking professional and Torrance resident since 1981. The Torrance City Clerk race and City Treasurer race are also still counting, with the treasurer’s race between Aurelio Mattucci and Mike Griffiths separated by just 602 votes — 44.53% to 42.80%.
CD-32: Sherman Comfortable, Scare Over
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman has firmly re-established his primary lead at 39.39% over Republican Larry Thompson at 30.0%, a comfortable 9-point margin that represents a dramatic improvement from election night when Thompson briefly led. The embarrassment of trailing a Republican in his own primary has faded — but the 15.58% drawn by progressive challenger Jake Levine suggests real left-flank dissatisfaction with Sherman heading into November.
The Count Continues
As of Saturday’s update, LA County has recorded 1,774,846 total votes cast — a 30.12% turnout rate. Approximately 77% of those ballots were cast by mail. The Registrar will post updated counts daily through June 26, with final certification by July 10.
