Who's winning the Los Angeles mayor race? See live election results below
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The first results of the Los Angeles mayoral race are in, as polls closed at 8 p.m. With over 60% of the expected vote counted, incumbent L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is leading the pack at 35%, followed by Spencer Pratt at 30% and Nithya Raman at 23%.
ABC News projects that Bass will advance to a runoff in November. ABC News has not yet projected who Bass' opponent will be in the November election.
See live election results below.
Mayor Bass is seeking a second term as she faces several challengers in a closely contested Los Angeles mayoral race.
Voters had 14 candidates to choose from, including Raman and Pratt, and many have focused on a variety of issues impacting L.A., including recovery from the devastating 2025 wildfires, homelessness, ICE operations and more.
While the primary is nonpartisan, Bass has served Congress as a Democrat, Raman is a self-described Democrat, and Pratt is a registered Republican.
Of the 10 Los Angeles mayors to have sought a second term since the office's term became four years in 1925, only two have been denied second terms -- John C. Porter in 1929 and James Hahn in 2005.
Follow all election updates here.
Here's a look at the front runners on the 2026 ballot for Los Angeles mayor:
Karen Bass (incumbent)
For her reelection campaign, Mayor Karen Bass is promising to make the city safer and more affordable while positioning herself as a candidate who will take on the Trump administration.
She kicked off her campaign with a rally in December of 2025.
SEE ALSO: LA Mayor Karen Bass launches re-election campaign with rally in downtown
At the event, the incumbent touted what she described as her accomplishments in addressing affordability through her Executive Order No. 1, codified into an ordinance by the City Council to permanently streamline affordable housing projects; two-year reductions in street homelessness, in part, due to her signature program Inside Safe, and bringing back business to the downtown area via a permanent al fresco initiative and boosting union jobs.
READ MORE: LA Mayor Karen Bass on what Spencer Pratt knows about job of mayor: 'I don't think he has a clue'
Bass also said the city had made progress in reducing crime and working toward its zero-emissions goal.
"The city I've been in my whole life, the city that I love, I feel we have accomplished a lot, but we're not done," Bass said. "Until every Palisadian is back home. I will not rest until L.A. is affordable, until one paycheck is enough and families don't have to double up or triple up. And I will not rest until there are no Angelenos on our streets."
Her campaign website also touts homicides on track to being the lowest on record since 1968, fire cleanup being the fastest in U.S. history, and the revitalization of the California Film and TV Tax Credit, among other accomplishments during her first term.
Nithya Raman
L.A. City Council member Nithya Raman says she made her last-minute campaign announcement for mayor after growing frustrated with not being able to help her constituents.
READ MORE: Nithya Raman says she's running for LA mayor after growing frustrated with how city works
"It gets harder and harder for me to look at them in the face and to say, 'I can't fix your streetlight for a year.' I don't think that's an acceptable answer," Raman told Eyewitness News in February. "I've hit up against my limitations as a council member. I've done a lot, but to do what needs to be done at this moment, to make sure departments are doing their job, to make sure that we're organized to face the incredible moment of crisis and challenge that we're at right now, we need to be doing something differently at the very top."
Despite Raman working closely with Bass on homelessness and housing, Raman says L.A. is reaching a tipping point. Pointing to families being priced out, housing not being built fast enough, and what she describes as a city government that sometimes struggles to deliver on the basics.
RELATED: Nithya Raman says voters can 'pick a different path forward'
Raman has served on the council for five years, and some have called her the next Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City.
Although she's a member of Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA, Raman points out the district she leads, which includes portions of the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood Hills and Silver Lake, is far from the most progressive in the city. She believes she's been an independent voice on the council.
"Los Angeles is a special place with incredible people. This campaign is about honoring what this city has given us - and giving back what it deserves," Raman wrote on her campaign website.
Spencer Pratt
Reality TV star Spencer Pratt is challenging Bass in a campaign centered on criticism of the city's disaster response.
Pratt said he decided to run because of dissatisfaction with the current administration.
SEE ALSO: Reality TV star Spencer Pratt files paperwork to enter Los Angeles mayoral race
"We have no other choice, so it's pretty simple. We can't do four more years of Karen Bass," he said.
Pratt announced his run on the anniversary of the Palisades Fire, which destroyed his home. He is running his campaign with a focus on criticizing the city government's response to the fire that destroyed his home.
"I want what everybody wants: quality of life, affordability, you can go on. Everything the mayor has said she wants to do. She's had four years to do it, and everything is worse," Pratt said in February.
"Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles, and I'm done waiting for someone to take real action. That's why I am running for mayor," he said at an event announcing his candidacy. "But let me be clear, this just isn't a campaign -- this is a mission, and we are going to expose the system. We are going into every dark corner of L.A. politics and disinfecting the city with our light."
READ MORE: Spencer Pratt claims homeless people have homes, but choose to be drug addicts
In addition to emergency readiness, he is also campaigning on public safety, small business empowerment and a treatment-first approach to homelessness, according to his campaign website.
Pratt rose to fame in 2007 when he began dating "The Hills" cast member Heidi Montag, and eventually became a regular on the series. The couple married the following year, and they have two children.
He and Montag also appeared on shows including "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" and the British version of "Celebrity Big Brother."
City News Service and ABC News contributed to this report.