Spencer Pratt’s lead shrinks over Nithya Raman and Xavier Becerra overtakes Steve Hilton in latest ballot drop

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt’s lead over Nithya Raman continued to shrink Friday with the latest ballot drop.

Councilwoman Raman scored a major boost, cutting Pratt’s lead by about 13,000 votes from Thursday’s drop.

Mayor Karen Bass remained in first place at 35% of the vote, while Pratt held onto second with 28.4% of the vote, down from 29.35% on Thursday. Pratt added just 10,651 votes in the latest count.

Raman, meanwhile, surged from 23.42% to 24.89%, picking up 23,115 votes. The latest results keep Raman within striking distance as hundreds of thousands of ballots remain uncounted. 71% of the votes for mayor have now been counted.

Friday results: Mayor Karen Bass 35% (215,868), Spencer Pratt 28.2% (174,260), Nithya Raman 24.9% (153,588).

“Barring some mathematical surprise, today’s results suggest that Nithya Raman is likely headed to the runoff,” longtime political strategist Michael Trujillo told The California Post.

“The larger question people should start asking is whether Los Angeles wants a Democratic Socialists of America-backed controller, city attorney and mayor. Is the city ready for that level of influence from a single political movement?,” he added.

“One factor to watch is the late vote. Younger voters have tended to cast their ballots later for decades, and DSA-backed candidates have been particularly effective at organizing and turning out that demographic. As additional ballots are counted, that will continue to influence the outcome,” he said.

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Political strategist Rick Taylor wasn’t so sure the latest drop spelled doom for Pratt.

“No one knows. We’re all playing second guessers right now without having all the ballots,” said Taylor. “If I were on the Raman team, I’d feel good today. I wouldn’t feel confident yet.”

Taylor said Raman’s ability to outperform Pratt by more than two-to-one in the latest batch of ballots was a significant development.

“When you outperform your opponent two to one, that’s a huge pickup,” Taylor said.

The statewide governor’s race saw former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra overtake Republican Steve Hilton for the top spot … Becerra is now projected to advance to the November runoff election.

Becerra climbed to 26.6% of the vote, while Hilton had 26.4% — leaving the two separated by just a fraction of a percentage point. Billionaire businessman Tom Steyer remained in third place with 21.01%.

With hundreds of thousands of ballots still left to count statewide, the governor’s race remains too close to call between Steyer and Hilton, and could see additional shifts in the days ahead.

Friday results (5:30 p.m. pt): Xavier Becerra 26.7% (1,698,049), Steve Hilton 26.3% (1,673,564), Tom Steyer 21% (1,334,592).

The slow pace of California’s ballot count is drawing the attention of federal authorities.

U.S. Attorney Robert Renner toured Los Angeles County’s ballot processing facility Friday amid growing questions about the speed of ballot processing and a backlog that continues to leave hundreds of thousands of ballots outstanding.

Earlier Friday, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced that his office is pursuing several election-fraud investigations in coordination with the FBI and the Department of Justice as scrutiny intensifies over California’s prolonged vote count.

Renner’s visit followed exclusive reporting by The Post, which toured the county’s 144,000-square-foot ballot processing facility Thursday and found large sections of the operation sitting unused despite the substantial backlog.

Taylor said the prolonged ballot count raises larger questions about whether California’s election system is achieving the goals policymakers intended when they expanded vote-by-mail voting.

“What are we going to do to make elections better?” Taylor told The Post. “Has vote-by-mail turned out more voters, or has it just become a lengthier, more complicated process? Is there a middle ground where people can still vote easily and we get results in a timely fashion?”

Another election result is expected on Saturday between 4-5:00 p.m.