Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass received the endorsement of former Vice President Kamala Harris as polls show Bass in a potentially tight race in her reelection bid.
Bass, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from Spencer Pratt, a Republican reality television star, as well as several other candidates from her own party. Harris announced her support for Bass on Monday. Polls show Bass with less than the required 50 percent support to avoid a runoff, with a significant portion of the electorate remaining undecided, so Harris’ endorsement could carry weight among undecided Democrats.
Kamala Harris Endorses Karen Bass
Harris praised Bass as the “leader Los Angeles needs right now,” touting a decline in homelessness and crime.
“Mayor Karen Bass is the leader Los Angeles needs right now. She has done what so many said couldn’t be done — the first ever two-year decline in homelessness, reducing crime to levels this city hasn’t seen since the 1960s, and refusing to back down when the federal government came after our neighbors,” Harris said in a statement. “She has my full support for re-election.”
Bass said in a statement that she is “deeply honored to have the support of Vice President Kamala Harris, who has spent her career fighting for the people of Los Angeles and our country.”
Harris’ support could be meaningful for some Democrats who remain supportive of the former vice president, particularly in her home state, where she served as a senator and attorney general. Harris has weighed in on other races ahead of the midterms. She supported Representative Jasmine Crockett in the Texas Senate race, though Crockett ultimately lost to state legislator James Talarico in the Democratic primary.
These endorsements are also a key test for Harris’ political capital ahead of the 2028 presidential race. Harris, who ran against President Donald Trump in 2024, has been named a potential candidate who has not ruled out a potential run. The endorsements could help her build allies and gauge whether she is influential over the Democratic electorate.
Los Angeles uses a nonpartisan election system, so all candidates will appear on one ballot; if no candidate wins a majority, there will be a runoff between the two candidates with the most support.
Los Angeles Mayoral Race: What Polls Show About Karen Bass Reelection
The most recent public poll of the race showed Bass leading with 25 percent support, followed by Pratt at 11 percent. Progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman polled at 9 percent. Activist Rae Huang and entrepreneur Adam Miller each received 3 percent. Forty percent of respondents said they were undecided.
The poll was conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles, among 813 likely voters between March 15-19, 2026.
An Emerson College poll showed Bass leading with just under 20 percent support, while Pratt had support from 10 percent of respondents. Raman received 9 percent support, while 4 percent said they would vote for Miller. Three percent said they would vote for Huang.
But 51 percent were still undecided. Those voters will be crucial to Bass’s reelection chances.
The poll found that 47 percent of Los Angeles residents disapprove of Bass, while 24 percent approve of her. It surveyed 350 likely voters from March 7-9, 2026, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.
A University of California, Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll showed Bass with 25 percent support and Raman at 17 percent. Pratt polled at 14 percent, while Huang and Miller followed at 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively. It surveyed 840 likely voters from March 9-15.
Newsweek reached out to the leading campaigns for comment via email.
What Do Prediction Markets Show?
Kalshi gives Raman a 56 percent chance of winning the mayoral election, while Bass has a 23 percent chance. Pratt had a 20 percent chance, according to the prediction market.
Polymarket showed similar odds—Raman had a 56 percent chance, compared to Bass’s 26 percent and Pratt’s 19 percent as of Monday afternoon.
Prediction markets measure traders’ sentiment about current events but are not always accurate predictors of the future.
Spencer Pratt’s Candidacy Garners National Attention
Pratt has drawn significant attention in his mayoral run due to his name recognition from starring in MTV’s reality show The Hills. He is viewed as the leading Republican candidate in the race, having launched his political career after the devastating 2025 Palisades wildfire destroyed parts of Southern California.
Pratt would face headwinds in Los Angeles, a Democratic stronghold known as one of the most liberal cities in the country. Harris carried Los Angeles County, which includes the city of Los Angeles and its suburbs, with about 65 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential race, making it difficult for a more conservative candidate to win in even a nonpartisan race.
A recent Pratt ad went viral online, drawing more than 10 million views on X. It shows him outside the homes of Bass and Raman, before moving to the mobile home where he has lived with his family since they lost their home in last year’s deadly Palisades Fire.
Both Bass and Raman hit back at the ad in comments to Newsweek, with a spokesperson for Bass’s campaign saying Pratt was “doing his best Trump impression.” Raman called the ad a “political stunt” and said filming outside of her home “feels unnecessary and reckless.”
Pratt Hits Back at Accusations of ‘Exploiting’ Grief
Pratt branded Bass “disgusting” after she accused him of capitalizing on the grief of victims of the Palisades Fire to elevate his public profile.
“I feel like he’s exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades, and I think that’s reprehensible,” Bass told MeidasTouch reporter Katie Phang in an interview last week. “That’s the main thing. And I think he is about his own celebrity. He’s famous now again.”
Pratt hit back during an appearance on Fox News’ The Will Cain Show on Monday, saying the mayor’s comments were “the most insane, psycho, diabolical thing I’ve heard in a minute.”
He said: “I’m not sure if Karen Bass forgot that she let my house burn down and my parents’ house burn down. And I had actual neighbors burn alive across the street from my childhood home. The only grief is my grief, my community’s grief—that I initially started this fight on behalf of.
“And she forgets. I have received two community advocate awards from the Pacific Palisades community. So it’s the most insane, psycho, diabolical thing I’ve heard in a minute, but it’s not shocking.”
He went on to accuse Bass of a cover-up, citing reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
He said: “This is the same woman that will allow 7,000 houses to burn to the ground, 12 people to burn alive, and then actively cover it up, get caught covering it up, and then say that the LA Times is lying, even though they have the emails where she’s altering the after-action report, which, as far as I’m concerned, is obstruction of justice. So it’s disgusting.”
The Times reported in December that drafts of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report included deletions and revisions intended to downplay the failures of city and department officials. The newspaper later reported, citing unnamed sources, that Bass pushed for changes in the report as a guard against potential legal action. Bass denied the allegations, saying the account was “completely fabricated.”
When Is the Election?
The primary is on June 2. If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, that candidate is elected outright. But if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two will advance to a November runoff.
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