Nithya Raman will face Mayor Karen Bass on Nov. 3, the AP said, citing Spencer Pratt.

Nithya Raman had 115 days to make her case to the voters of Los Angeles.

The member of the council who was sitting was surprised to enter the mayoral race late, and was the last of the candidates for the primary elections. That left him little time to build a campaign team, build his name recognition and convince voters that he would be the best choice to lead the city.

On Monday, the Associated Press called the race, concluding that Raman will have enough votes to make a Nov. 3 run against Mayor Karen Bass, the first-place finisher who secured a spot in the race last week.

Television host Spencer Pratt, who was in second place on election night, saw his lead over Raman narrow as mail-in ballots were counted late on June 2.

On Monday, Raman widened his gap over Pratt to nearly 3 percentage points. Bass had 34.3% of the vote, compared to 28.6% for Raman and 25.8% for Pratt, the latest results showed.

Raman, in a statement, said he was “incredibly honored” by the results, and invited Angelenos “frustrated by the status quo” to join his campaign.

“For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political benefits to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people are paying the price in high rents, depleted services, and a city that no longer serves them,” he said.

Raman led Pratt by 21,819 votes, 229,576 to 207,757, election officials reported Monday evening, with about 148,100 votes remaining statewide.

Pratt, a Republican and former star of MTV’s “The Hills,” has captured much of the country, appearing on “Fox & Friends” and interviewing host Joe Rogan. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bass strategist Douglas Herman responded to Monday’s results by issuing a broad opinion against Raman.

“The campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows camping near schools and stops the police, is one Mayor Bass is looking forward to winning,” he said in a statement.

Raman spent his time roaming the city, going to many events and reaching out to employers and young voters – the groups he considered his base. His team also navigated the city’s complicated financial system, which quickly secured $1.25 million in taxpayer money to fuel his campaign.

Raman has attended nearly 100 public meetings, his political team said. These include numerous sessions with restaurant owners, including one in Echo Park, a “Nithya Families” event in South LA and an Upright Citizens Brigade comedy show.

“[Pratt] he made a lot of noise and he did a lot of television and he got a lot of social media, while he was out campaigning, meeting with voters, campaigning,” said Mike Bonin, a former progressive city councilman who now runs the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA. “That’s important.”

In the end, Raman accomplished two important goals: to make himself better known to Angelenos outside of his Hollywood Hills-centric district, while also naming Pratt as someone whose views did not resonate with LA voters.

While Bass floated above this conflict, Raman worked to amplify Pratt’s political views, linking them to President Trump and the far right. During a free debate on NBC4 Los Angeles, he said Pratt — who has been portraying the city as a dystopian hellscape — was offering a “MAGA Republican vision of what Los Angeles looks like.”

Raman’s team has gone a long way in social media. In one video, the campaign quoted Pratt’s interview with an ABC7 Los Angeles reporter, distorting his voice as he said the city’s homeless residents were drug addicts. That video cuts back and forth between photos of Pratt and photos of Trump.

In another video, Raman specifically appealed to voters to block Pratt from starting. Using clips from his appearance on “The Alex Jones Show” — one where he doubted global warming, another where he discussed claims that 9/11 was an inside job — Raman portrayed Pratt as a right-wing extremist.

“These are the politics that Spencer Pratt wants to bring to Los Angeles — hate, fear, conspiracy, stupidity — the same thing we’ve seen in the Trump administration,” Raman said. “If his campaign is allowed to continue even a few more months … it will make this city more hateful and more stupid.”

Pratt repeatedly tried to downplay his party’s registration, saying the election was nonpartisan. He emphasized that his campaign is aimed at Angelenos who are angry about the way the city is being run, as evidenced by the city’s poorly maintained roads and unsupervised homeless encampments.

Still, Pratt scaled back his own bid, continuing with Trump-friendly news outlets and doing “Trump stuff,” said Mike Murphy, a Los Angeles-based political strategist. While that kind of behavior drew attention on social media, it didn’t resonate with a large percentage of LA voters, he said.

“There was a lot of hype, because he was different, loud and provocative,” said Murphy, a conservative who has advised former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and many other Republicans. “But most of the hype was online, not in downtown Los Angeles.”

If Raman was attacking Pratt on the right, he was also thwarting a left-wing seditious campaign by another member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the Reverend Rae Huang.

Huang made real progress in the race, saying Raman came very close during his time on the council.

Raman’s campaign tried to get Huang out of office in the weeks before the election, saying such a step was necessary to defeat Pratt. Huang refused and went public with those efforts.

Although the campaign to remove Huang from the race failed, the leftist campaign ended up losing ground, receiving less than 3% of the vote in the primary.

Leslie Chang, a supporter of Raman and chair of LA’s DSA chapter, said Raman had a difficult job reaching voters directly, while relying on influencers and social media influencers to raise his profile.

Chang also said that the DSA voter guide, which recommended Raman, played a role in winning over progressive voters who may have considered Huang.

The polling guide praised Raman, though not officially endorsing him, and questioned Huang’s political experience, saying it raised “significant questions about how he plans to carry out what is set out by such an important agenda.”

Another big difference between Huang’s and Raman’s campaigns was the amount of money each had to reach voters.

Huang’s campaign tried and ultimately failed to get matching funds from the city, while Raman’s campaign raised the maximum amount allowed, $1.25 million.

Raman’s campaign also received donations from writers and comedians who formed the councilor’s base in his previous election. Her husband, Vali Chandrasekaran, is a prominent television writer.

Raman’s campaign spending included $300,000 from Middle Seat, a Washington DC-based consulting business that also worked on an independent spending group supporting Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for Mayor in New York City.

The company helped Raman’s campaign with digital advertising.

While Pratt ran as an outsider, criticizing Bass for his handling of the 2025 Palisades fire and homelessness, Raman took a different tack, saying Angelenos want a well-run city — where potholes and streetlights are fixed on time. He also said that City Hall makes decisions about political gain and success, not what is best for the community.

His campaign slogan reflects that.

During the first interview with workers and volunteers, held in a backyard behind Raman’s house in Silver Lake, Raman said: “We’re trying to build a city that works.”

“Those of us in the room at the time said, ‘That’s it. That’s the campaign slogan,'” said Adam Conover, a comedian who volunteered for Raman.

Days later, the campaign printed the slogan on lawn signs and used it on social media.