Nithya Raman Defeats Spencer Pratt in Primary

Nithya Raman has made a comeback and will now face Karen Bass in the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor.

After taking a narrow lead from reality TV star — and a real estate favorite — Spencer Pratt on Sunday, Raman closed the gap between the candidates on Monday with nearly 22,000 more votes than Pratt. And with about 93 percent of the vote counted, the Associated Press has called the election.

Raman joining Bass in the November runoff is a loss for not only Pratt, but his real estate backers, too. That includes Compass’ Tracy Tutor, Newmark’s Jay Luchs, Westside Estate Agency’s Kurt Rappaport and billionaire apartment developer Geoff Palmer.

Raman, Bass’ former further-to-the-left political ally, had fewer real estate donors than the incumbent and Pratt, though she did count architecture and urban planning outfits and housing advocacy groups as backers. Her background is in urban planning, so that isn’t a surprise. Bass’ industry dollars came from Richard Ziman, Ardie Tavangarian and more.

Bass and Raman, despite their prior relationship, have taken their own stances on issues the real estate world cares about most. On Measure ULA, the so-called mansion tax that hits commercial real estate, too, Bass has mostly glossed over it during her reelection campaign. She proposed a rollback for victims of the wildfires that ravaged Pacific Palisades who are rebuilding their homes. Raman, shortly before entering the race, proposed a 15-year carveout on new commercial projects. Los Angeles real estate veterans have blamed the tax for redlining the city via stifling development and investment and breaking trust with Wall Street.

When it comes to downtown, another industry pressure point, Raman didn’t take a hard stance on a total return-to-office mandate for city employees, during a May debate. Her office calls for three days a week, but the council member said some workers should be back to their desks full-time. Even so, return to office is only one part of bringing back downtown, she said, largely blaming Bass for lacking a clear strategy on safety and cleanliness to make businesses want to be there.

The mayor, for her part, said she does have a strategy — collaborating with business associations to address public safety and an adaptive reuse ordinance to fast-track office conversions — and it’s working, Bass said. Either way, some Downtown L.A. landlords aren’t a fan of Bass’ back to work stance.

Pratt held the No. 2 spot since election night prior to Sunday’s update, when Raman came out with a 3,100-vote lead. When the first round of results came in on June 2, Raman was trailing Pratt by around 7,500 votes, but had been steadily gaining ground on him as more votes were counted. This reflects a trend we’ve seen before where mail-in votes — which take longer to count — favor candidates on the left. In 2022, when Bass and billionaire mall magnate Rick Caruso faced off for mayor, he held a lead for days before Bass eventually came out on top.