On Tuesday night, Nithya Raman found herself in an emotional moment as she slipped to third place in the Los Angeles mayoral race, trailing behind Spencer Pratt and Karen Bass. The socialist candidate displayed visible emotion, her face contorted and eyes brimming with tears, while she addressed her children, expressing her aspirations for a city that could live up to their dreams.
“I want you to understand that everything we have been fighting for in this campaign is about creating a city that is deserving of you and every child here,” Raman said, her voice breaking with emotion.
According to the Associated Press, as of Wednesday morning, Raman was lagging behind Pratt by approximately 8 percentage points, capturing 22.3% of the vote compared to Pratt’s 30.4%. At the forefront of the race, Karen Bass held a strong lead with 34.8% of the votes. The latest update was provided around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
The vote tally at that time showed Bass with 172,720 votes, Pratt with 151,149, and Raman securing 110,848. With Bass in the lead, both she and Pratt are poised to advance to the general election in November, likely marking the end of Raman’s campaign.
The total count as of that time has Bass with 172,720 votes, Pratt with 151,149 and Raman on 110,848.
As vote totals stand, with Bass leading, the incumbent and Pratt would advance to the November general election. Raman’s campaign would be done.
The city councilwoman stunned LA political observers in February when she declared her campaign for mayor after backing Bass.
She ran a campaign aligned with leftists dissatisfied with Bass’s leadership and called for a renewed homelessness plan along with increased housing production.
But she also faced criticism for her own handling of the homeless crisis as head of the city council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee. The criticism culminated in a homeless encampment stunt outside her home.
Raman faced slight headwinds in her campaign with competing candidate Rae Huang, who also drew favor from the Democratic Socialists of America and may have prevented the councilwoman from drawing their endorsement outright. Huang drew about 3% of the vote.
The DSA is known for motivating its volunteers towards robust get-out-the-vote initiatives that carried socialist Zohran Mamdani to the mayor’s office in New York City after they backed him. Some hoped Raman would follow in his footsteps.
At one time, Raman led polls in the race.
But a disastrous debate performance weighed down her campaign, and her message appeared to falter over Pratt’s if voters are to be believed.
Pratt had been successful in the waning weeks of the campaign, producing viral social media videos pointing towards his Palisades fire activism and blaming Raman and Bass for the city’s problems.
Raman has yet to concede as election analysts project the race could get closer as late blue ballots roll in.
