Spencer Pratt’s 40,000-vote lead vanishes in Los Angeles mayor race as California continues counting ballots

Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt was on track to advance to the November general election for mayor of Los Angeles against incumbent Karen Bass. However, over the weekend, third-place challenger L.A. City Councilwoman Nithya Raman began to make substantial gains amid California’s week-long vote-counting process.

Pratt appeared to have a strong lead over Raman on Wednesday, one day after the election, with over 40,000 more votes. That lead slowly shrank over the next several days, dropping to a 33,000-vote lead on Friday.

'43,000, huh? Where have I seen that number before...?'

Raman jumped from roughly 111,000 votes on Wednesday to 197,000 as of Monday morning, allowing her to squeak past Pratt by just over 3,000 votes, according to the Associated Press.

“On election night, Pratt led Raman by about 40,000 votes — roughly a 10-point advantage,” KTTV reporter Matthew Seedorff stated. “As of tonight, Raman now leads Pratt by about 3,100 votes, a net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday.”

“43,000, huh? Where have I seen that number before...?” Pratt replied in a post on social media, sharing a screenshot of a March article about the 43,699 homeless people living in Los Angeles. “Probably nothing.”

Nearly one week after Election Day, California has counted only 83% of the votes.

The AP has not yet reported who will go head-to-head with Bass in the runoff race.

RELATED: Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman shrink Karen Bass’ lead in tight race for LA mayor: Poll

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

The final polls leading up to the election showed the three candidates separated by a few points.

A survey conducted May 19-24 by the University of California Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times gave Bass just a one-point lead over Raman and a four-point lead over Pratt, which the Times referred to as “statistically insignificant” for the incumbent mayor.

When asked which issues matter most to them, nearly all of the surveyed Pratt supporters expressed concern about waste and political corruption, as well as crime and public safety. Meanwhile, Bass and Raman supporters, who provided similar responses, stated that they prioritize protecting immigrants, moving the homeless indoors, and building more affordable housing.

RELATED: Democrats unleash ‘secret weapon’ to go after Spencer Pratt in a last-ditch effort to end his campaign

HIGHFIVE/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

While the mayoral race is nonpartisan, Pratt, a registered Republican, has run an impressive campaign in the Democratic stronghold city where only 15% of the population is registered as Republican.

Voters will begin receiving mail-in ballots for the general election in early October.

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