Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass held a narrow lead over City Councilmember Nithya Raman in her bid for a second term Tuesday night, but with roughly half the expected vote still uncounted, the race was far from decided. Bass addressed supporters at the Loews Hollywood Hotel shortly after 9:30 p.m., telling the crowd it takes a while to count the vote and that she felt confident.
Early Returns Favor the Incumbent, But Barely
Bass was narrowly ahead of Raman in the contest to lead the nation's second-largest city, according to early returns reported Tuesday by the Los Angeles Times. Addressing her election night party, Bass voiced confidence that she would prevail, according to the same report. NBC News, tracking the count, reported 586,672 votes tallied, amounting to 49.8% of the expected vote in the Los Angeles mayoral race, per its live results tracker.
The margin separating the two candidates remained thin enough that neither side could claim victory. As LAist reported, the results were early and not final, with a narrow margin and days of counting still ahead. The Associated Press, in its turnout estimates cited by the station, put the share of counted votes at roughly 50%.
Bass Leans on Homelessness and Safety Record
In her remarks to supporters, Bass pointed to her administration's work on some of the city's most persistent challenges. She cited efforts toward bringing homeless people off the streets, making neighborhoods safer and creating more job opportunities, according to the Los Angeles Times account of her election-night speech. Those themes have anchored her reelection pitch throughout the campaign.
Raman's path into the race began under unusual circumstances. Her last-minute entry in February shocked the city and sparked a heated showdown between the two, who had once been political allies, the station's report noted. The contest went on to draw attention well beyond Los Angeles, arriving amid a growing number of electoral wins nationally by candidates associated with the Democratic Socialists of America, per the same account.
Polling Had Signaled a Toss-Up
The closeness of Tuesday's early returns tracked with pre-election polling. A Berkeley IGS survey conducted with the Los Angeles Times found Bass and Raman tied at 40% apiece, with 19% of likely voters still undecided, according to ABC7. That deadlock foreshadowed a count that could stretch on for days before a winner emerges.
There is recent precedent for dramatic swings in late ballot counting. In the June primary, Raman sat in third place on election night before gaining ground and overtaking reality TV personality Spencer Pratt by the sixth day of counting, the earlier LAist report recounted. Whether a similar shift materializes in the general election remains to be seen.
What Comes Next
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk has made clear that election-night results are preliminary. The office says totals may change as additional eligible ballots are processed and counted, with updates continuing throughout the canvass until the election is certified, according to its own live results page. Bass's Tuesday night appearance, first captured on video by CBS News Los Angeles, showed a candidate projecting confidence while acknowledging the outcome would take time to settle.
