LOS ANGELES (CNS) - City Councilwoman Nithya Raman was bound Tuesday for a November runoff election against incumbent Karen Bass in the race for Los Angeles mayor, with the latest vote tally putting Raman well ahead of former reality TV personality Spencer Pratt.

Pratt initially held a solid lead over Raman, but as the vote-counting continued from last week's primary election, the city councilwoman steadily gained ground, finally overtaking Pratt on Sunday.

Sunday's voting update showed Raman with a roughly 3,000-vote lead, but Monday's updated vote tally showed Raman's lead over Pratt ballooning to 21,819 votes.

Raman leads by nearly three-percentage points. As of Monday, the councilwoman had received 229,576 votes, or 28.55%, with Pratt trailing behind at 207,757 votes, or 25.83%, according to the latest vote tally by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass continued to lead the way with 275,992 votes, or 34.32%.

The top two finishers advance to the November election.

Following the release of Monday's updated election results, Raman declared victory in the race for second place and a spot in the runoff.

"I'm incredibly honored that voters have given us the opportunity to advance to the general election for mayor of Los Angeles," Raman said in a statement. "To the thousands of supporters who knocked doors, made calls, sent texts, donated, and opened their homes for events across the city, and to everyone else who made this moment possible: thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

The councilwoman emphasized that "our fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable and more joyful Los Angeles continues."

"For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them," Raman said. "If you're as frustrated by the broken status quo as I am, I hope you'll join our movement to build a city that works for everyone."

After news of Raman's ascension to second place Sunday, Bass' campaign issued a statement noting the incumbent was confident she would defeat Raman in November. Bass' campaign again reiterated that message on Monday.

"A campaign against Nithya Raman, who allows encampments near schools and cuts the police force, is one Mayor Bass looks forward to winning," Douglas Herman, a campaign strategist for Bass, said in a statement.

A representative for Pratt's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier Monday, Pratt had taken a positive stance.

"Folks, we're dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference," Pratt wrote on X, prior to the release of Monday's updated vote totals. "There's still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next three weeks to count! Let's git-r-dun!"

Voting results typically take longer in California than in other states, as officials process a large number of mail-in ballots, which can be received as many as seven days after the election.

The Los Angeles County Registrar's Office said final results of the June 2 mayor's race will be certified June 26, with daily vote updates throughout this week. County elections officials must submit their final results to the Secretary of State by July 3. The Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the election results by July 10.

According to the county, roughly 148,100 ballots countywide remain to be tallied from last week's election. It was unknown how many of those ballots are from the city of Los Angeles.

The length of the counting process led to criticism -- primarily from President Donald Trump -- who has repeatedly accused California Democrats of rigging the election, despite offering no evidence to support his claim. Trump walked out of an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" over the weekend after he was questioned about his claims of election fraud.

Trump renewed his criticism on social media Monday, writing, "Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections! Now they'll be working on great guy Steve Hilton. Won't have results for, possibly, TWO WEEKS, according to officials."

The initial tally of votes released following the June 2 election showed Pratt with a lead of more than 40,000 votes over Raman. But Raman has steadily gained ground as daily updates on the count are released.

The majority of ballots still being counted are primarily those sent by mail or submitted in drop boxes close to or on election day. Those ballots are generally believed to skew toward Democrats, since Democrat voters are more likely to mail their ballots.

Ballots can be received as long as a week after the election, as long as they were postmarked by June 2.

But allegations of fraud have persisted from Republican circles, despite a lack of evidence supporting the claims. Pratt himself on Sunday posted a message on X, noting the 43,000-vote swing in the election returns -- and noting that 43,000 is also roughly the number of homeless people in the city.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has also questioned the length of the vote-counting process in California, and called on the state to dispatch workers to counties to expedite the process.

Hilton plans to hold a news conference on Tuesday outside the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office in Norwalk to discuss "election reforms."

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli confirmed Friday that his office has "multiple" probes underway into alleged voting fraud in the state, although he declined to provide any specifics. He noted a recent criminal case filed against a woman accused of paying homeless people on Skid Row to register to vote.

He also said the state was "blocking" a federal audit of its voter rolls.

Essayli urged anyone who may have witnessed potential election fraud to email tips to CAElectionFraudTips@usdoj.gov.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office confirmed to City News Service that an official from the U.S. Attorney's Office inspected the main county vote-processing center on Friday.

"Our office was notified late Thursday that the U.S. Attorney's Office would be sending an Assistant U.S. attorney to the Ballot Processing Center to observe ballot processing activities. The individual arrived Friday morning, was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walk-through of the ballot processing operations," according to the Registrar's Office.

"Ballot processing in Los Angeles County is open to public observation, and election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests, including members of the public, candidates, political parties, advocacy organizations, and government agencies."

Under Assembly Bill 5, which took effect this year, counties are required to count and report most ballots by June 15. Certain ballot types are exempt from that deadline, including provisional ballots, conditional voter registration ballots, signature cure ballots, ballots requiring duplication, ballots forwarded from other counties and some late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

Gary and Shannon

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