For the third day in a row, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman Friday cut into former reality television star Spencer Pratt’s lead in the race for second place as they battle to challenge incumbent Karen Bass in a November mayoral runoff election.
An updated vote tally Friday showed Pratt with 174,260 votes, or 28.24%, with Raman narrowing the gap with 153,588 votes, or 24.89%. Pratt now holds a 20,672-vote lead over Raman, which had been a 33,076-vote lead Thursday, and a 40,302-vote lead Wednesday.
Raman is about 3.4 points behind Pratt. Bass has secured a spot in the November runoff, after receiving 215,868 votes as of Friday, or nearly 35%.
The latest batch of ballots counted showed Raman had received an additional 23,115 votes, or 38%, with Bass receiving an another 20,419 votes, or 34%, and Pratt netting an additional 10,711, or 18%, since Thursday’s returns.
Pratt and Raman are fighting over who will be Bass’ opponent as the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk continues to process vote-by-mail, provisional and other outstanding ballots. Final results are not expected for several weeks.
A representative for neither Raman’s nor Pratt’s campaign immediately responded to a request for comment regarding Friday’s returns.