Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman cut deeper into the lead of reality television personality Spencer Pratt on Saturday, as his lead slimmed to just a single percentage point.

Pratt fell to just over 27% of the vote while Raman jumped up to slightly over 26%, according to the results from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder. Pratt now leads Raman by just 7,494 votes.

“We’ve seen Nithya Raman catching up on every update and the last two in particular she’s accelerated,” said Paul Mitchell, vice president of the bipartisan voter data firm Political Data Inc. “She’s continued to gain at a rate that means she will eventually catch up unless Pratt starts getting some ballots coming in that are either geographically or demographically better for him.”

Democratic consultant Michael Trujillo, who doesn’t represent anyone in the mayoral race, said the results suggest Raman will surpass Pratt as more votes are counted.

“I think it’s over,” Trujillo said. “It appears Nithya will be in the runoff. Pratt doesn’t appear to be growing much more.”

The second-place finisher in the mayoral primary will face Mayor Karen Bass in a Nov. 3 runoff. On election night Tuesday, the Associated Press determined that Bass had secured enough votes to qualify for the runoff.

Pratt has been in second place since then, but Raman has gradually eroded his lead as mail-in ballots have been counted. The updated vote tally released Thursday showed Pratt with 29% of the vote and Raman with 23%.

With Friday’s update, Raman’s share had risen to 25% and Pratt’s shrank to 28%, for a 3 percentage point gap.

In the most recent batch of mail-in ballots counted, Raman received 23,514 votes, while Pratt gained 10,336.

Election analysts expected Raman to gain ground as the mail-in ballots were tallied, reasoning that many left-of-center voters — Raman’s base — held onto their mail-in ballots until the last minute as they waited to choose between Democratic gubernatorial candidates. They also say younger, more progressive voters tend to hold onto their ballots longer generally.

Although the mayor’s race is nonpartisan, Pratt is a Republican in a city that is overwhelmingly dominated by Democratic voters and elected officials.

A poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which was co-sponsored by The Times, had Pratt running in third place behind Bass and Raman.

The poll of 1,351 likely voters conducted May 19-24 had Bass with 26% support, Raman with 25% support and Pratt with 22% support, with a 3% margin of error.

Los Angeles voters have become accustomed to seeing election results change as late-arriving ballots are tabulated. In the 2022 mayoral primary, real estate developer Rick Caruso led the pack for about a week before Bass pulled ahead.

Pratt was favored in many of the same neighborhoods that voted for Caruso, according to a Times analysis of precinct-level returns provided by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder on Wednesday, when an estimated 62% of the projected vote had been counted. Raman, by comparison, made inroads in progressive areas dominated by Bass four years ago.

Pratt, whose Pacific Palisades fire home burned in the January 2025 fire, was strong there and on the Westside, as well as in the San Fernando Valley communities of Encino, Woodland Hills, Chatsworth and Sunland-Tujunga.

Raman dominated precincts known for their progressive politics, particularly those with younger people in renter-heavy neighborhoods stretching from Hollywood to Highland Park, including her home base of Silver Lake.

Mail-in ballots with an election day postmark will continue to be accepted by county election officials through Tuesday.

The familiar Kars4Kids jingle will continue playing across California for now after a state appeals court sided with the charity in its ongoing legal fight over the ads.

On June 4, a California appeals court ruled that Kars4Kids can keep airing its advertisements in the state while it challenges a lower court decision that found the commercials deceptive.

The order temporarily pauses a judge’s ruling that would have prohibited the New Jersey-based vehicle donation charity from running the ads in their current form. The appeals court did not address the merits of the case, which remains under review.

The decision marks an important victory for Kars4Kids, whose fundraising operation relies heavily on the nationally recognized “1-877-Kars4Kids” advertising campaign. For now, the well-known jingle will remain on California airwaves as the nonprofit pursues its appeal.

Three U.S. citizens were arrested Friday and accused of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group, including raising money to purchase drones and rocket-propelled grenades allegedly intended for attacks against American service members deployed overseas.

The suspects were identified as Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, of Leawood, Kansas, Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville, California and Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the District of Kansas, the three men conspired to provide material support to ISIS by collectively sending more than $2,000 to a person they believed was a member of the terrorist organization.

Federal authorities allege that from at least February 2025 through June 2026, the defendants communicated through Discord chats, voice calls and other messaging platforms about plans to support ISIS through personnel, services and financial contributions.

Investigators said the men pledged allegiance to ISIS and its leader and exchanged messages in social media groups that promoted violence on behalf of the organization.

The complaint alleges that Ghafoor said it would be “sick” if his name could be written on a drone used in an attack against Americans. Dzayee allegedly suggested that U.S. Special Forces personnel should be among the targets of drone attacks.

Authorities also said Shamsaldeen expressed a desire to stab and injure a U.S. service member. According to the complaint, Ghafoor stated that he had always wanted to kill a female soldier by beheading and added, “I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans.”

Investigators allege that Ghafoor’s name was written on the projectile of a rocket-propelled grenade that was purportedly intended for use in an overseas attack against U.S. military personnel. Shamsaldeen allegedly provided money intended for the purchase of drones that were to be used to attack and kill American service members deployed abroad.

The complaint further alleges that the defendants and others discussed traveling outside the United States to fight on behalf of ISIS and, in some communications, expressed a willingness to die for the organization.

“This administration has put terrorists, cartels, and gangs on notice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Today’s arrest of three individuals who allegedly conspired to provide material support to ISIS makes clear our commitment to taking down terrorist networks — anywhere.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspects allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS, plotted attacks and targeted U.S. service members, adding that the arrests prevented further acts of violence.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said the defendants are accused of supporting a “ruthless terrorist organization” and helping fund plans to kill American service members overseas.

The investigation was conducted by FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Kansas City, San Diego and Sacramento, with assistance from FBI field offices in Richmond and Newark.

The three men are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.