Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has advanced to a November runoff election in her bid for a second term, NBC News projects, but the opponent she’ll face in the one-on-one race remains unclear.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.More than a dozen candidates faced off in an all-party primary in the mayor’s race.Since no candidate is on track to earn more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers move on to a runoff this fall.
Leading the pack behind Bass are former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, a Republican, and Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman, a Democrat.Bass, a former member of Congress, was first elected mayor in 2022, when she defeated real estate developer Rick Caruso in an expensive race.Despite enjoying relative popularity throughout the city at the start of her term, Bass faced backlash in the aftermath of last year’s destructive wildfires for being out of the country when they broke out.
The fires burned over 16,000 structures, and at times, fire hydrants and water tanks ran out of water, limiting efforts to fight the blaze.A March Los Angeles Times poll found that over half of voters in the city, 56%, had unfavorable views of Bass.On the campaign trail, Bass acknowledged the public’s frustrations over issues like the wildfires and widespread homelessness.“It’s super important that I explain about the accomplishments that have been done.The fact that homelessness is down 17.5% two years in a row, it is the first time we’ve seen a decline in street homelessness.
Around the country, homelessness went up 18%.Crime is down to 60-year low in terms of our homicide rate.
We go through spikes here and there, and when we do, we respond aggressively,” Bass told KABC-TV last month.Bass’ wobbly standing with voters led to challenges from both the left and the right.Pratt ran an insurgent campaign focused on criticizing Bass for her response to the Los Angeles wildfires ...