Tipsheet

Spencer Pratt Might Get Shut Out of the LA Mayoral Race

Spencer Pratt, the reality TV star turned political candidate in the face of Los Angeles’ crime and homelessness epidemic, is on the verge of being shut out of the LA mayoral second round of voting as more and more late-count mail-in ballots give the edge to Nithya Raman.

Pratt is on pace to be overtaken today, as his lead has been cut down to less than 1 percent over Raman after the latest batch of ballots were reported. There is a narrow margin of just over 7,000 votes between the two candidates and a further estimated 23 percent of the vote left to be counted, according to NBC’s model.

Raman, the third place candidate and the likely candidate to shut Republicans out of representation during the second round election, has received the lion’s share of the newest round of ballots. Raman received around 40 percent of the latest count while Pratt managed to secure 18 percent. The remaining 42 percent was split amongst the other candidates in the field, most notably Democrat incumbent and front-runner Karen Bass, who took 33 percent of the latest haul.

California's jungle primaries are designed to ensure that two members of the same party can advance to the second round, effectively shutting out the potential for opposition candidates to proceed to the general election by splitting the primary vote between two progressives. Democrats are fully aware and even boast of their ability to sideline Republicans out of high-profile races.

While the election took place on Tuesday, nearly a quarter of the vote for the mayoral race has yet to be reported.