The topic Raman tops Pratt in LA mayor contest; California governor’s race unsettled is drawing steady attention: readers, analysts, and industry watchers are all tracking how the story may unfold in the days ahead.
This is taking place in a fast-moving context — product cycles, platform shifts, and competitive moves can reshape the outlook quickly, so the details below are worth a careful read.
What follows is a clear walkthrough of the main facts and angles you need to make sense of the news.
California voters are still waiting for results in the race for governor after the candidates set to face off in the general election for Los Angeles mayor were decided on Monday.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman previously faced a six-percentage-point deficit to political newcomer Spencer Pratt, but she jumped ahead of Pratt by a razor-thin margin of less than one percentage point as of Sunday’s results update. On Monday, Raman was projected to advance to the runoff by CBS News after gaining more than 33,000 votes in the daily Los Angeles County polling update.
Last week, CBS News projected that incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass will advance to the runoff.
Candidates are also still on standby in the state’s chaotic primary to succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is no longer eligible to hold the position after serving two terms. CBS News projected on Friday that Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, had advanced to the general election.
Under California’s primary system, the two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of political affiliation.
If elected, Becerra would be California’s first Latino governor since Republican Romualdo Pacheco in 1875.
The wait to see who will face Becerra in the general election will continue through at least Tuesday, with little movement seen over the weekend as some counties did not update results.
Republican candidate and former Fox News host Steve Hilton remained in second place through the weekend after Becerra gained enough votes on Friday to overtake him.
Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, a Democrat, gained additional ground in returns on Monday after doing so over the weekend, earning 22.4% of the vote to Hilton’s 25.1%.
As the waiting game continued, Hilton used the time to criticize California’s government.
“The snail-like pace of the vote counting process in California is just another example of the incompetence and uselessness of the state government,” Hilton said on X.
“This race is still too close to call,” his campaign website said. “We’re going to wait until every ballot is counted. We’re going to give democracy time to work.”
Bass is no longer waiting to see who she’ll face in the November election after reality TV star Spencer Pratt’s lead over LA City Councilwoman Nithya Raman disappeared over the weekend before Raman was projected to advance on Monday.
Pratt’s election night advantage diminished with each day of polling updates from the LA County Registrar-Recorder until Sunday, when Raman overtook him by less than a percent with 83% of votes counted. His grasp on second further slipped on Monday, when the LA County Registrar-Recorder updated polling totals and showed that Raman had surged ahead once again.
As of Monday night, Bass maintained just over 34% of votes, while Raman had 28.5% to Pratt’s 25.8%.
In a statement to CBS LA on Monday morning, Raman expressed gratitude to her supporters as the votes continued to be counted.
“We are encouraged by the latest vote count and remain grateful to the thousands of Angelenos who have powered this campaign,” Raman said.
As the updated numbers rolled in, Pratt took to social media to question the late surge in votes that were in favor of Raman. On Monday morning, he told supporters to stay optimistic.
“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,” he said. “Let’s git-r-dun!”
Bass, on the other hand, issued a statement through her campaign targeting Raman.
“We look forward to winning a contest against an opponent who allows encampments near schools and fights against hiring more cops, yet is MIA on saving Hollywood jobs and fighting back when ICE invades LA,” the statement said.
Raman did not comment on the most recent numbers, but while speaking to supporters on election night, she remarked on what she called her “long shot” bid for mayor.
“No one knew who I was; I was the last to enter this race,” Raman said. “We had no institutional backing. But what we did have was a vision for Los Angeles.”
according to the data the California Secretary of State, counties have 30 days to count ballots on a provisional basis. Mail-in votes must be postmarked no later than Election Day, and they must be counted as long as they are received within seven days.
Here are when some major population centers expect their next ballot drops: