Nithya Raman holds early lead over Karen Bass as other LA races begin to take shape – NBC Los Angeles

Nithya Raman holds early lead over Karen Bass as other LA races begin to take shape  NBC Los Angeles

As Mayor Bass faces the toughest fight of her political career, the LA mayor's race and several others remain too close to call Wednesday morning. In the Los Angeles mayor's race, City Councilmember Nithya Raman is holding an early lead over incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, according to the latest ballot count from the Los Angeles County Registrar's office Wednesday morning. While it is too early to determine the next mayor of the nation's second-largest city, Raman garnered about 15,000 more votes than Bass as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, with 51% of the vote, compared with 49% for Bass. When the polls initially closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Bass appeared to have a slim lead.

But within hours, Raman caught up and surpassed Bass in the vote count. At 9 p.m. Tuesday, Bass had 289,671 votes, about 10,000 more than Raman's 279,068. But by 2 a.m. Wednesday, the challenger had gained steam and moved ahead of Bass by 4,000 votes. The next official updates are scheduled to be released at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to the LA County Registrar's office. In the June primary, 874,716 voters from the city of Los Angeles cast their ballots. Voter turnout is expected to be higher in the November election. It will likely take a few days before Angelenos know who their