Nithya Raman, a current city councilmember, has taken a narrow lead over former reality TV star Spencer Pratt in the race for the second spot in the upcoming Los Angeles mayoral election. As of the latest vote count update on Sunday evening, Raman has secured about 40% of the nearly 48,000 votes reported by Los Angeles County, putting her approximately 3,000 votes ahead of Pratt.

The race remains too close to call, with votes still being counted, and CNN has not yet projected which candidate will face off against Mayor Karen Bass in the November election. Raman’s recent surge in votes has been notable, as she has consistently outperformed both Bass and Pratt since the close of election night counting on June 2. She has gained 43,000 votes on Pratt, increasing her overall share of the vote by about 5 percentage points.

California’s election process, which heavily relies on mail-in ballots, often takes several days to finalize results. Properly postmarked ballots received up to seven days after Election Day are still counted, and these late-counted votes tend to favor Democratic candidates. Although the mayoral race is officially nonpartisan, Pratt is a registered Republican, while Raman has campaigned as a progressive.

Mayor Bass has already begun to outline her potential campaign strategy against Raman, should they face each other in November. In a statement issued on Sunday, Bass criticized Raman for being “missing in action” on key issues such as saving Hollywood jobs and opposing ICE operations in Los Angeles.

The outcome of this race will be closely watched as it unfolds, with implications for the political landscape of Los Angeles and the broader state of California.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.