Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not win her reelection bid outright. She failed to clear the majority needed to avoid a runoff, which means voters get a second look at her record in November. Under the city’s top-two rule, if no candidate clears 50 percent, the top two finishers advance to a November 3 runoff. Bass made the cut. The question is who joins her. SPENCER PRATT WILL FACE BASS IN RUNOFF for LA MAYOR: ‘I didn't know I would be here tonight, but it's obviously God's plan, and I'm going to go all the way and I'm going to show everybody that I'm their MAYOR’ pic.twitter.com/jgJMBX03sx — RT (@RT_com) June 3, 2026 In early returns, the second slot belongs to Spencer Pratt, the outsider who built his campaign around everything Bass has gotten wrong. The Associated Press has not yet called the second runoff candidate, so Pratt is on track and projected by others while the count continues. The trend line is the story, and it has Bass headed into a fight she clearly hoped to avoid. Pratt ran as a critic, not an apologist. He hammered Bass over the city’s wildfire response, the homelessness crisis that never seems to shrink, rising crime, and a city government that residents say does not work. That message landed in a city where the establishment expected an easy coronation. And the establishment is exactly what Bass has behind her. WOW! Spencer Pratt just ADVANCED to a runoff mayoral election in LA after Karen Bass gets barely a THIRD of the vote Pratt is currently over 30%, 2nd place! “Obviously, God wanted 5 more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor.” 1v1 matchup, time for LA to… — Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 3, 2026 Bass carries the backing of California’s Democratic machine, including Governor Gavin Newsom, with major Democratic figures lined up to keep her in office. All of that institutional weight, and she still could not close it out in one round. President Trump previously signaled support for Pratt, putting a national spotlight on a race the political class wanted to keep local and quiet. Conservative Brief reported the race is likely headed toward a Bass-Pratt November fight: Los Angeles Democrat Mayor Karen Bass is moving on to a runoff election after failing to secure the 51% of votes required to win outright in a reelection campaign that has garnered global attention. As Bass attempts to win a second term as mayor of Los Angeles, she has faced intense political criticism from both the left and the right. Challenger Spencer Pratt has criticized Bass from the right for not holding the government responsible for things like disaster response and homelessness. Nithya Raman, a fellow Democratic candidate from the left, has criticized Bass for not doing enough to advance affordability. According to preliminary poll results, Pratt is in second place, and Raman is even further behind. No candidate appears likely to exceed the 50% threshold to win outright, which means the top two will meet head-to-head in the November election. Pratt has not officially been declared as finishing in second place, but his margin over Ramen is very likely to be too much for her to overcome. The runoff math is simple. No one hit 50 percent plus one, so the top two move on to November 3, and the second-place finish decides who stands across from Bass. There were also pre-election incidents now under review, including reports of burned ballots and vandalism at a voting center. Those are being looked into and have not been shown to have changed any outcome. Worth watching, not worth pretending we know more than we do. RACE CALL: Spencer Pratt is projected to advance to a runoff against incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass. pic.twitter.com/eoRayLEhUj — Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) June 3, 2026 What is not in doubt is the political reality for Bass. An incumbent mayor with the governor and the party apparatus behind her got dragged into November by a challenger who refused to play along. That is the leverage Pratt has now, and the next five months are his to press it.