Pratt Undeterred As Raman Overtakes Him For 2nd Place In Mayor's Race: 'Let's Git-R-Dun!'

LOS ANGELES, CA — A day after City Councilwoman Nithya Raman overtook him for the No. 2 spot in the Los Angeles mayor's race, Spencer Pratt appeared optimistic about his chances of advancing to the runoff while also calling into question the legitimacy of the results.

Mayor Karen Bass' comfortable lead prompted the Associated Press to conclude on election night that the incumbent had secured her place in the November runoff. Still to be determined is who will face off against Bass in November — the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office will continue counting ballots for the next two weeks.

In the latest round of ballot-count results released Sunday evening, Raman overtook Pratt for second place with 27.12% of the vote. Pratt's total stood at 26.69%, while Bass had 34.68%.

"Folks, we're dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there's still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next 3 weeks to count! Let's git-r-dun!," Pratt wrote on X.

In another post, Pratt drew parallels to the number of votes gained by Raman in the latest count and a reported number of homeless people sleeping on the city's streets.

President Donald Trump — who backed Pratt's candidacy — has repeatedly accused California Democrats of rigging the election, despite offering no evidence to support the claim. He walked out of an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" over the weekend after he was questioned about those claims.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has "multiple" probes underway into voting fraud in the state, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Friday. He has not provided specifics regarding this current election, though he cited a past criminal case filed against a woman accused of paying homeless people on Skid Row to register to vote.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office confirmed that an official from the U.S. Attorney's Office inspected the main county vote-processing center on Friday.

"Our office was notified late Thursday that the U.S. Attorney's Office would be sending an Assistant U.S. attorney to the Ballot Processing Center to observe ballot processing activities. The individual arrived Friday morning, was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walk-through of the ballot processing operations," according to the Registrar's Office.

"Ballot processing in Los Angeles County is open to public observation, and election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests, including members of the public, candidates, political parties, advocacy organizations, and government agencies.

The registrar will report additional ballot-count results no more than once daily through June 26 until all ballots are counted, according to the office.

The next count will be released on Monday between 4 and 5 p.m.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday that voters awaiting final returns from the primary election should expect vote totals to continue changing for several weeks.

"Accuracy comes before speed," Weber said in a statement. "California is the nation's largest voting state, with millions of ballots to process and count. Taking the time to do this work correctly protects voters' rights and ensures the integrity of our elections."

Experts say it's unsurprising that Raman, the left-wing favorite among the three front runners, is performing well in the post-Election Day ballot counts.

The initial counts released on election night and in the early morning hours the following day include ballots submitted in person, as well as mail-in ballots sent in before Election Day.

California law requires mail-in ballots to be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by election officials no later than seven days after Election Day.

Democrats are generally more comfortable voting by mail and there was a push among left-leaning voters in this election to cast ballots later, the Los Angeles Times reported.

City News Service contributed to this report.

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