Karen Bass Leads Tight Three-Way Los Angeles Mayoral Race

Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass holds a narrow lead in the Los Angeles mayoral primary ahead of the June 2 election. A UC Berkeley and Los Angeles Times poll places Bass at 26%, followed by City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 25% and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt at 22%. Despite the slim margin, the Bass campaign disputes these figures, claiming internal polling shows a double-digit lead. Two-thirds of voters believe the city is on the wrong track, with Bass losing support from both the left and right.

Bass has secured endorsements from Governor Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and actors Samuel L. Jackson and Jane Fonda. Newsom praised her for achieving an 18% decline in homelessness and reducing violent crime. Bass has attributed slow progress in ending street homelessness to internal bureaucratic resistance within the city system.

Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican running as an independent, has surged in polling and fundraising, raising $2.72 million in a single month. Pratt focuses his campaign on public safety and the city's failure to manage the 2025 Palisades Fire, which destroyed his own home. He has accused Bass and various NGOs of profiting from a "homeless industrial complex scam" and alleged that Bass violated election laws by campaigning near ballot boxes—a claim Bass's spokesperson, Alex Stack, denied as blatantly false.

Nithya Raman is positioning herself as a progressive alternative, focusing on housing affordability and challenging the sustainability of Bass's initiatives. If no candidate secures over 50% of the vote in the primary, the top two will advance to a runoff on November 3.