Los Angeles Mayor Race Too Close to Call as Bass and Raman Stay Separated by a Sliver

The race for mayor of Los Angeles is too close to call. Late on Tuesday night, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Councilwoman Nithya Raman were separated by a fraction of the vote, with ballots still being counted across Los Angeles County. No winner had been declared when the first night of counting ended, and officials made clear that the result would not settle quickly.

As of 11 p.m. on Tuesday, with 50 percent of votes counted, Bass had 50.7 percent of the vote and Raman had 49.3 percent, FOX LA reported. Results from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk at 10 p.m. Pacific, cited by the New York Post, put Bass at 292,876 votes, or 50.86 percent, against 282,935 votes, or 49.14 percent, for Raman. That is a difference of 9,941 votes out of 575,811 counted. Figures released by the Registrar's office and reported by MyNewsLA showed Bass with 295,992 votes, or 50.8 percent, and Raman with 286,951 votes, or 49.2 percent.

The race tightened as election night wore on. Bass took an early lead, and Raman gained ground later in the night, according to the Desert Sun in the USA Today Network live results. About 8,000 votes separated the two candidates at around 11 p.m.

The count runs for days

The county counting schedule calls for an update at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, then updates at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day after that. Final results are not scheduled to be certified until November 27. California law allows mail ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive within seven days, which keeps late ballots in play while the margin sits this close.

Political veterans warned that the contest could drag on for days or weeks, with no clearer picture expected until at least Friday, the New York Post reported. "If there is one thing we can predict, it is that we will not know what the outcome of the elections will be until the earliest Friday," political consultant Rick Taylor told the Post.

A tie in the final poll

The finish matched the last polling. The final pre-election poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, found both candidates at 40 percent support among likely voters, with about 19 percent undecided. Bass had trailed Raman by 11 points in a September poll, then closed the gap by Election Day on Tuesday, November 3.

Speaking to supporters on Tuesday, Bass said: "This is a critical day in our city, but it is a critical day in our country," The Center Square reported.

What the winner takes over

In 2022, Bass became the first female mayor of Los Angeles when she beat Rick Caruso with 54.8 percent of the vote. The winner of this race will lead the city through the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics. Until the count moves, the race stays where election night left it: two candidates within a point of each other, and a county still counting.