Nithya Raman Advances to LA Mayor Runoff After Defeating Spencer Pratt

This morning, a week after California's primary day, reality TV star Spencer Pratt's insurgent campaign for LA mayor has officially run its course. NBC News projecting progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who had been steadily gaining ground on the conservative political outsider, will now advance to the fall runoff against incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass. The result, a bitter disappointment for Pratt's supporters after his election night high when results showed him in second place last week. I didn't know I'd be here tonight, but it's obviously God's plan. The race drawing national attention with some top Republicans, without evidence, claiming voter fraud, including

President Trump posting on Truth Social, "Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the LA runoffs after the big lead he had. Rigged elections." But California's election process, often slower than other states, more than 80% in this race voting by mail, and those ballots are counted so long as they're postmarked by election day. The non-partisan official in charge pushing back on fraud claims. This is how the voting process is structured in California based on giving voters multiple options and a long time period for when to cast their ballots. And Mayor Bass also firing back.

What do you make of the president's claims and some of the claims by Spencer Pratt's supporters that the Democrats have cheated in this election? Well, I mean, I think that's a familiar um accusation that is made when one is losing. Statewide, well over a million mail-in ballots still need to be counted. You can see how every one of these ballots is being opened by hand. They then make their way over here to this highly secure tally room.

Well, in the tight race for governor, Republican Steve Hilton says the system is flawed, but he hasn't seen evidence of fraud. We've seen nothing that would give us cause to intervene in that way. His race still a question mark. Either Hilton or Democrat Tom Steyer will face former Biden cabinet member Xavier Becerra in the November matchup. And Hilton is one of many now calling on the state to make changes to its ballot counting process to speed it up. Governor Gavin Newsom's office tells us that the governor wishes the vote count move faster, too. And as for the LA mayor's race, Spencer Pratt has not

commented or spoken out since NBC News and other outlets projected he is not advancing to the runoff. Savannah. All right, Liz. Thank you very much. Hey, thanks for watching. And don't forget you can catch the Today show every morning on NBC or take Today when you're on the go. Just follow the Today podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.