Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman pulled ahead of former reality TV star Spencer Pratt on Sunday to claim second place in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, updated results show, reshaping the race to challenge incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in November and raising questions about how Raman overtook Pratt so late in the count.
For context, NBC News had already projected on election night that Bass would advance to the November runoff, leaving only one real suspense: which challenger would join her. In the first days after polls closed, early returns put Pratt ahead of Raman, creating the prospect of a one-time MTV personality facing the sitting mayor of the United States' second-largest city. That script is now in danger of being torn up.
