Karen Bass Trails LA Mayoral Competitors in 2026 Campaign Fundraising
Mayor Karen Bass will have to compete with several deep-pocketed candidates entering Los Angeles’ primary mayoral election this June, and she’s falling behind.
The incumbent trails her competitors in fundraising for this year, raising $494,734 to date since January. Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman, who each announced their candidacies days before the deadline in February, have raised over $530,000 each for their campaigns, according to data from the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller contributed $2.5 million of his own funds to his campaign, collecting $200,000 in donations.
Bass has raised $2.8 million since she began fundraising in 2024 and has nearly $2.3 million in cash on hand.
While Miller, a first-time candidate, has been lagging behind his competitors in public opinion polls, he has a competitive fiscal advantage. However, money is not always the only factor in the mayoral race — Rick Caruso spent over $100 million of his own money in 2022 to no avail.
Housing advocate Rev. Rae Huang, who raised just over $165,000 since Jan. 1, has been competing with Raman for the left wing of the city’s electorate.
Polling suggests that, despite his lack of political experience, “The Hills” star Pratt has become a legitimate competitor in the mayoral race. An April poll from UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs found that Bass led the field with 25% support, followed by Pratt at 11% and L.A. City Councilmember Raman at 9%.
Around 40% of the electorate was still undecided with just two months before the election, according to UCLA.
“It is unusual for 40% of likely voters to be unsure of their choice just two months before an L.A. mayoralty election,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin. “Although Mayor Bass faces the most challenging reelection of an incumbent mayor in decades, it is highly likely that this election will be decided in a November runoff. A lot can change between now and then, so it’s a wide-open race.”
The L.A. mayoral race is nonpartisan, but the city historically elects a Democratic candidate.
Because Pratt and Raman joined the race at the buzzer, their total fundraising for their campaigns trails that of the sitting mayor, who has raised funds for two years. Bass saw a dip in her fundraising following the Palisades and Eaton fires in January 2025.
Among Pratt’s donors are producer Charles Pacheco of LBI Entertainment, “The Hills” alum Lauren Conrad’s former partner Doug Reinhardt, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” producer Jeff Jenkins and Katharine McPhee.
Raman raised funds from Hollywood playmakers, including filmmakers Ed Zwick and Nick Stoller; actors Adam Scott and Colin Jost; and writers Veena Sud, Megan Amram, John Solomon and Tim Disney. Former Netflix executive Tendo Nagenda, Endeavor founder Tom Strickler and current head of TV at Lord Miller, Dan Shear, also contributed to Raman’s campaign.
Huang received donations from progressive civic leaders, including attorney Erin Darling and small-business owner Jillian Burgos, who each lost their L.A. city council races in 2022 and 2024, respectively.
Bass collected donations from Hollywood political action committees, including IATSE and the Motion Picture Assn. Local PAC. The mayor also received contributions from state and federal Democratic politicians, including Reps. Judy Chu and Sydney Kamlager-Dove.
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