California's primary election results are slowly coming into focus a week after voters went to the polls, with key races for governor and Los Angeles mayor beginning to take shape. In the Los Angeles mayoral primary, Democratic incumbent Karen Bass has secured enough votes to advance to the November general election, according to projections from NBC News and the Associated Press.
She will be joined by Democratic City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who edged out Republican and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt as more ballots were counted. As of Tuesday morning, Los Angeles County election results showed Bass with over 275,000 votes, Raman with more than 229,000, and Pratt in third place with just over 207,000 votes.
Election certification is scheduled for June 26.
The race for California's next governor remains too close to call, though former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, has already secured enough votes to advance to the general election. Republican Steve Hilton holds second place, while Democrat Tom Steyer trails in third.
The California Secretary of State's office reported Becerra with over 2.17 million votes, Hilton with nearly 1.97 million, and Steyer with more than 1 million. The slow counting is typical for California, where mail-in ballots are prevalent and take time to process.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has reignited baseless claims of election fraud in California, abruptly ending an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" over the weekend after being challenged on his assertion that the state's elections are "rigged." Trump accused Democrats and election officials of being "crooked," echoing allegations he made about his 2020 presidential loss. California election officials have repeatedly explained that the vote-counting process takes longer due to the high volume of mail-in ballots.