Karen Bass advances in Los Angeles mayoral race as opponent currently remains unclear

Votes are being counted in the closely watched primary election to determine Los Angeles' next mayor.

Voters in the nation's second-largest city had their choice of 14 candidates to choose from in a race that included incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt and city Councilwoman Nithya Raman.

ABC News projects that Bass will advance to a runoff, though it is currently unclear which candidate she will face in the runoff election.

During the campaign, candidates running for the top office in Los Angeles focused on a variety of issues afflicting the Southern California metropolis, including recovery from the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, homelessness, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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.

Here is a rundown of the candidates, the issues and how the election will function.

While 14 candidates are running for office, three front-runners have emerged in polls: Bass, Pratt and Raman met in the only televised debate of the race on May 6.

Bass, a Los Angeles native, entered politics in 2004 after a career in medicine as a physician assistant. The mayor served in the California State Assembly, rising to the speaker of the assembly before running for Congress in 2010.

She served six terms in the House as a Democrat before becoming the first woman and second African American mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.

Raman, running as a progressive, launched her campaign earlier this year, just before the deadline, and has been a member of the city council since 2020.

Raman, who holds degrees from both Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, describes herself as an "urban planner" on her website.

Pratt, who has generated headlines since announcing his candidacy earlier this year, is running as an outsider in the field. Pratt rose to fame in his 20s serving as a villain archetype on the hit reality TV show "The Hills."

The former reality star has said his political ambitions were fueled by his association with the Palisades wildfire, which claimed his home.

No topic has been more prominent in the mayoral campaign than the Los Angeles fire response and recovery. When fires ravaged the region in early 2025, more than 10,000 structures were destroyed as more than 30,000 acres of the city burned.

Pratt has been the most outspoken critic of the city's response. Bass has defended her actions while also admitting the city must learn from the fire. Raman has also cr