Votes are being counted in the closely watched primary election to determine Los Angeles’ next mayor.Â
Voters in the nation’s second-largest city had their choice of 14 candidates to choose from in a race that included incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt and city Councilwoman Nithya Raman.
ABC News projects that Bass will advance to a runoff, though it is currently unclear which candidate she will face in the runoff election.
During the campaign, candidates running for the top office in Los Angeles focused on a variety of issues afflicting the Southern California metropolis, including recovery from the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, homelessness, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and more.
Los Angeles City Council member and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman attends a “Families for Nithya” event n Los Angeles, May 16, 2026. Spencer Pratt while campaigning for mayor of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, May 31, 2026. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks to supporters during a meet & greet, May 31, 2026, in Venice, Calif.
Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images | Daniel Cole/Reuters | Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
While the primary is nonpartisan, Bass has served Congress as a Democrat, Raman is a self-described Democrat, and Pratt is a registered Republican.
Here is a rundown of the candidates, the issues and how the election will function.
The candidates
While 14 candidates are running for office, three front-runners have emerged in polls: Bass, Pratt and Raman met in the only televised debate of the race on May 6.
Bass, a Los Angeles native, entered politics in 2004 after a career in medicine as a physician assistant. The mayor served in the California State Assembly, rising to the speaker of the assembly before running for Congress in 2010.
She served six terms in the House as a Democrat before becoming the first woman and second African American mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.
Raman, running as a progressive, launched her campaign earlier this year, just before the deadline, and has been a member of the city council since 2020.
Raman, who holds degrees from both Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes herself as an “urban planner” on her website.
Pratt, who has generated headlines since announcing his candidacy earlier this year, is running as an outsider in the field. Pratt rose to fame in his 20s serving as a villain archetype on the hit reality TV show “The Hills.”
The former reality star has said his political ambitions were fueled by his association with the Palisades wildfire, which claimed his home.
The issues
No topic has been more prominent in the mayoral campaign than the Los Angeles fire response and recovery. When fires ravaged the region in early 2025, more than 10,000 structures were destroyed as more than 30,000 acres of the city burned.
Pratt has been the most outspoken critic of the city’s response. Bass has defended her actions while also admitting the city must learn from the fire. Raman has also criticized the “dysfunctional” response to the fires.
Homelessness, another key issue candidates have focused on down the stretch, was hotly debated on the debate stage last month. Bass has cited what she says are inroads on the issue, saying L.A. had seen a decrease in homelessness under her administration.
Raman’s campaign has stressed the importance of bringing unhoused people indoors, while Pratt has focused on what he sees as the core cause of homelessness: drug addiction.
The candidates also have different stances on what the city’s approach to ICE should be. Last year, ICE raids became a flashpoint for widespread protests across the city.
As mayor, Bass has pushed back on ICE’s presence in Los Angeles, saying in a press release in March, “Los Angeles will not stand for ICE’s fear, intimidation and unlawful targeting.”
Raman’s plan to address ICE in Los Angeles includes appointing a police chief “committed to protecting immigrants” and ensuring the Los Angeles Police Department “does not coordinate with federal immigration enforcement,” according to her website.
Pratt recently told ABC News the future mayor would not be able to work with ICE because of California’s sanctuary law status, adding, “I’m going to make the streets so safe the federal government is not going to need to come to L.A., because they’re going to be like ‘Wow this mayor has these streets safe and clean.'”
Other hot topics at play in the primary is the revival of Hollywood, LAPD funding, affordable housing and more.
How the primary works
According to the city of Los Angeles election code, the Los Angeles mayoral primary can result in either an outright winner or a runoff, depending on final vote tallies.
A candidate will be determined the winner if they receive a majority of votes in the primary. In the case that does not happen, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff in the general election in November.
