California’s election results are still coming in from the June 2 primary.
Advertisement But in the Los Angeles mayoral contest, incumbent Democrat Karen Bass didn’t crack the 51% needed to win outright, setting up a runoff in November.
More importantly, there is a battle between Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV personality and Republican, and Nithya Raman, a City Council member and Democrat.
Pratt is projecting confidence that he will beat Raman to make the runoff against Bass — but he’s also confident Bass will be an easy opponent
Advertisement “Are you going to debate Karen Bass again? ” a reporter asked Pratt. “And what do you want to tell her if she sees this?”
“You know, I loved debating her on NBC. I look forward to a couple more on NBC and Fox. We can do debates every Friday if she would like because this actually became my most favorite thing to do,” Pratt responded.
Advertisement “I hope she’s ready, because I literally could not be more excited,” he added
“I hope she’s ready, because I literally could not be more excited,” he added.
“It is usually a good thing for a politician, Dave, to debate the dumbest people around them. So I think Spencer Pratt is in a good position here,” Stu says.
“It has helped a lot of people in the past. So I think it’s a very good idea,” co-host Dave Landau agrees, though he adds, “unfortunately, in California, I’m not sure if it’s going to help. ”
Yeah, it’s still going to be tough in Los Angeles for Spencer Pratt to win because when you have a situation where it’s two Democrats and one Republican, their votes get kind of split up,” Stu says
“When you go the opposite way, and you have one Republican versus one Democrat, it’s very difficult to win in a city like this, especially in an election time that’s probably going to be pretty difficult for Republicans generally,” he continues.
“Pratt though is looking at this positively, Dave. He’s trying to take a positive spin on what is to come here in the next few months,” he adds.
In an interview following the latest election results, Pratt exclaimed that “obviously God wanted five more months” of him “exposing all the failures of our mayor.”
“So it’s going to be a fun ride. I hope she’s ready,” he said, adding that he was “born for this. ”
Pratt finished Election Night with 30. 4 percent of the vote.
Pratt is well ahead of progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who trailed at 22.3 percent
Yet despite an eight-point gap and hundreds of thousands of ballots already counted, officials and media outlets continue describing the race as too close to call.
As additional ballots have been processed, Pratt’s lead has narrowed somewhat, though he remains comfortably ahead.
The latest vote update shows Pratt at 29.4 percent compared to Raman’s 23.4 percent, leaving him with a six point advantage
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass remains in first place with roughly 35 percent of the vote and is all but certain to advance to the November runoff.
The battle now centers on whether Raman can somehow erase Pratt’s substantial lead and capture the second runoff spot.
Election officials say hundreds of thousands of ballots may still remain uncounted
Based on historical voting patterns, many analysts expect those ballots to lean more Democratic than the votes counted thus far.
That possibility has fueled speculation that Raman could eventually catch Pratt.
But even supporters of that theory acknowledge there is no guarantee current trends will continue.
What is clear is that vote counting is expected to continue for days
Additional ballot reports are scheduled daily through at least June 12, while ballots postmarked by Election Day can still be accepted if they arrive by June 9.