Nithya Raman surges past Spencer Pratt in L.A. mayor's race, closing in on runoff with Karen Bass

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman surged past reality television personality Spencer Pratt in the city's mayoral primary election Sunday, capping off a five-day turnaround after she fell behind Pratt on election night.

Raman now sits in second place with Pratt in third, according to the latest vote count from the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder. Raman had 27.1% of the votes counted so far, and Pratt had 26.7%.

Both are vying to compete in a Nov. 3 runoff against Mayor Karen Bass, who garnered 34.7% of the vote as of Sunday, and whom the Associated Press already determined has qualified for the runoff.

"The odds have shifted dramatically in Raman's favor," said Zev Yaroslavsky, a former council member who runs the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. "The trend is clear. She has been gaining on Pratt for the last three or four days. There's no reason to believe that will change. It is still close, but she is at this point more likely to be in the runoff than Pratt is."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/nithya-raman-surges-past-spencer-000504806.html