One day after Super Tuesday primary voting across multiple U.S. states, political observers are still waiting for final results in two high-profile California contests, with Democratic incumbent Karen Bass the first to lock in her spot on the November general election ballot for Los Angeles mayor. According to projections from CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. election partner, Bass has advanced out of California’s nonpartisan “jungle primary” system, which advances the top two vote-getters regardless of party affiliation. Her November opponent remains undecided as counting continues, with two candidates locked in a tight race for the second spot. Currently holding second place is Republican political newcomer Spencer Pratt, a reality television star who entered the race in January 2026 on the one-year anniversary of the devastating 2025 Palisades Fire that destroyed his home. Tailing Pratt by roughly 8 percentage points with nearly half of all ballots counted is left-wing Democratic city councilmember Nithya Raman. The eventual winner of November’s general election will lead the United States’ second-largest city for the next four years, and will oversee the city’s final preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games while tackling long-running crises of unhoused populations and a lack of affordable housing. If Bass wins in November, it will mark her second and final four-year term as mayor, capping a decades-long career in Los Angeles politics and community organizing. Before her first mayoral term, Bass represented Los Angeles in the U.S. House of Representatives for six terms, chaired the Congressional Black Caucus, and served as a prominent member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She was even widely discussed as a potential vice presidential running mate for Joe Biden during his 2020 presidential campaign. Bass’s first term has been defined largely by her efforts to address LA’s homelessness crisis and respond to federal immigration enforcement actions, but her tenure faced significant backlash following the January 2025 Palisades Fire. The blaze killed 12 people, destroyed thousands of homes across Southern California, and stands as one of the most destructive wildfires in state history – and Bass’s administration drew widespread criticism for its slow emergency response. That criticism has become the core of Pratt’s underdog campaign. The 42-year-old political outsider, who holds a degree in political science but has never held public office, first rose to fame in 2007 as a cast member on MTV’s hit reality series *The Hills*, where he became known for his dramatic, abrasive on-screen persona. Today, he campaigns on a platform of “fixing broken Los Angeles,” framing the city as unsafe and unkempt, and pushing for mandatory drug treatment programs as a solution to homelessness. For Raman, her entry into the mayoral race came as a surprise to many political observers: the 44-year-old urban planner and first-term city councilmember endorsed Bass shortly before reversing course and entering the race just ahead of the candidate filing deadline. A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Raman has drawn comparisons to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for her progressive politics. Her campaign centers on expanding access to affordable housing, accelerating progress on reducing homelessness, and revitalizing job growth in Hollywood’s entertainment sector, arguing that Bass has failed to deliver meaningful change on the city’s most pressing issues. Bass has already secured enough support to move on to November under LA’s primary rules: a candidate wins the contest outright only if they earn more than 50% of the primary vote, a threshold no candidate is on track to hit this cycle, meaning the top two will advance to the general election. Tuesday’s LA mayoral primary was just one of dozens of contests held across California, Iowa, New Jersey, and New Mexico that day, all part of the 2026 national midterm election cycle that will determine control of Congress and dozens of state and local offices across the country. In the other high-profile California contest, the race for governor, vote counting is also ongoing, with the contest already making history as the most expensive gubernatorial race in U.S. history. No clear front-runner has emerged through the primary, with three leading candidates locked in a tight race to advance to November. California has been led by Democratic governors since 2011, but the state’s high cost of living and ongoing homelessness crisis have created a competitive 2026 cycle. The leading contenders include Steve Hilton, a British-American conservative commentator and former policy adviser to ex-British Prime Minister David Cameron who played a key role in shaping Conservative strategy during the Brexit process. Endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Hilton campaigns on a platform of “disrupting the status quo” in Sacramento, promising to address the homelessness crisis, roll back California’s decades-long sanctuary state immigration policies, and increase cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. He is also known for his casual California-inspired style, often appearing barefoot and without a tie at campaign events. Close behind Hilton is Xavier Becerra, a longtime California politician and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Biden administration. Becerra has centered his campaign on his decades of governing experience at both the state and federal level, promising to push back against any policy changes pushed by Trump and his allies, and to freeze rising insurance and utility rates for cash-strapped California residents. The third leading contender is billionaire progressive activist Tom Steyer, who is campaigning on a platform of sweeping progressive policy change, including implementing a single-payer universal healthcare system in California and closing tax loopholes to force the state’s highest earners to pay a greater share of taxes. The race comes as California holds the highest cost of living in the United States, leaving many low- and middle-income residents struggling to cover basic housing, food, and utility costs, a reality that has shaped policy debates across all 2026 contests in the state.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass advances to run-off in race to run California’s biggest city
