Bass owned more Latino neighborhoods than Raman and Pratt combined, the data show

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass carried more Latino precincts than her rivals in last week's primary election, a data analysis shows, helping her finish first and qualify for a 3-day showdown with City Council Member Nithya Raman.

Bass ran 35 Latino-majority neighborhoods, including Boyle Heights, Pacoima and Historic South-Central. That was a 46% increase from 2022, when he won 24 predominantly Latino neighborhoods in a primary race against Rick Caruso and Kevin de León, according to Times polling data.

Raman was a distant second, winning seven Latino-majority precincts including Highland Park, El Sereno and Lincoln Heights.

Pratt won one of the most Latino areas, Harbor City, which is 51 percent Latino, the analysis found.

Bass' strong showing among Latinos was lauded in part for his strong challenge to the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and mass incarceration last year.

“Latinos came out for him because he's done a really good job trying to fight the Trump administration,” said Nilza Serrano, president of the Advance Democratic Club, a Latino Democratic organization that has endorsed Bass.

Avance allowed Caruso in a runoff with Bass four years ago, which led Bass to suggest that Caruso buy their support. He later apologized to the group. During this time, he worked behind the scenes to secure endorsements from Democratic Alliance groups such as Avance and important Latino activists such as Dolores Huerta and politicians such as Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

“He was a very established politician and respected figure in the Latino community,” said Matt Barreto, a professor of political science and Chicana/o studies at UCLA. “It makes him seem like a stronger decision.”

Bass was told that Caruso was not in the race this year. For the past four years, Caruso has flooded the airwaves and television stations with Spanish-language ads as he poured more than $100 million into his mayoral campaign.

Bass carried more Latino neighborhoods than Caruso overall in 2022 — 24 to Caruso's 16 — but Caruso actually did better in heavily Latino neighborhoods, with 34% of the vote in areas with at least 80% Latino population. Bass had 27% of that vote in 2022.

This year, Bass took 38% of that vote and Raman got 25%. Pratt was supported by about 17% in those areas.

Barreto noted that Pratt did not take strong action against the attacks by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which hurt his appeal to Latinos.

During the one-on-one mayoral debate between the three candidates on May 6, Pratt said there won't be a major ICE raid on his watch.

“If they're legal or illegal, if they're dangerous – I want them off our streets, that's what I said,” Pratt said. “ICE will not come here because … everyone they say they want, will be in jail if I'm mayor.”

Pratt didn't have a coherent message for Latino voters, and he didn't have a prominent Latinos campaign to replace him, noted Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.

“Why did he get votes when he has no message, no messenger and no vehicle for that message?” Guerra asked. “He didn't fund a grassroots game in any Latino area.”

Pratt's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Latinos make up about 37% of the electorate in Los Angeles, but pre-election polls suggest neither candidate has locked in their votes.

Bass was leading among Latinos in a survey by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, sponsored by The Times, in March with 29% support, followed by Pratt at 16%, Raman at 9%.

But in a May poll by Berkeley IGS, Raman rose among Latinos to 24%, Pratt to 21% and Bass to 20%.

The precinct-level data released by the county does not show how Latinos voted specifically, but how the precincts voted. The Times compared those results to Census data for analysis.

Like Bass, Raman has made a concerted effort to win the Latino vote. He ran ads in Spanish and held several events in heavily Latino neighborhoods, including holding a happy hour in Boyle Heights, meeting with street vendors and customers at Pico-Union and speaking with business owners on Olvera Street.

Six of the Latino-majority precincts Raman won — El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, Highland Park, Montecito Heights, Glassell Park and Cypress Park — withdrew from supporting Bass in 2022. His seventh win, Westlake, was carried by Caruso in 2022.

Raman, who immigrated to the US from India with his family as a child, said in a statement that he was “proud to co-author LA's Sanctuary City Ordinance and I will implement it unapologetically as mayor. I will increase funding for deportation protections and ensure that no city data is ever used for immigration enforcement.”

“I will work every day to make Los Angeles more affordable and create more opportunities, so that Latino families — and all families — can live here and thrive,” Raman said.

Marco Santana, 35, a longtime Van Nuys resident who is running for City Council in 2023, said he is considering supporting Bass until Raman enters the race.

“For me, it's not just about being Latino, it's also about coming together with younger people, being the first generation,” said Satana. “I feel this sense of urgency in him,” he said.

Bass swept Boyle Heights and Historic South-Central, two neighborhoods De León won in 2022. He also picked up Pacoima, Arleta and Sylmar — all San Fernando Valley areas that Caruso won in the 2022 primary.

His campaign said it was the support that drew Latinos to him.

“This was not a campaign ploy. Karen Bass is a parent of Latino children and grandchildren and has lived in these communities for decades,” said Alex Stack, Bass campaign spokesman. “Karen Bass has always stood up for the Latino community.”

Stephenie Lucio, a Northridge resident, was undecided until one week before the election. He said he feels Bass hasn't done enough to address the issues on his mind, including homelessness and the impact of immigration attacks on Latinos in LA.

But in the end, he said he voted for Bass, albeit “a little hesitantly,” seeing the incumbent as “really talking about things that are important to me and the Latino community.”