CA primary election results: Bass maintains lead as Raman closes gap in LA mayor's race with Pratt

A new batch of election results was released, revealing an even tighter gap between Los Angeles mayoral candidates Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt.

A new batch of election results was released early Saturday evening, revealing an even tighter gap between Los Angeles mayoral candidates Nithya Raman and Spencer Pratt.

In the latest results, with 78% of the expected votes counted, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is still leading the pack with 35% of the votes. Pratt is in second place with 27% of the vote, and Raman is trailing right behind him with 26% of the vote.

Approximately 60,000 votes were added in Saturday's batch of election results, and about 7,500 votes separate Pratt and Raman.

On election night, there was about a 10% gap between Pratt and Raman, but as more results have come in throughout the week, the gap has shrunk. On Friday evening, there was about a 3% gap between the two candidates.

ABC News projected Bass would advance to the November runoff on election night. ABC News has not yet projected who Bass' opponent will be in the November election.

The race to get on the November ballot for Los Angeles mayor continues, with a new round of election results shared early Friday evening.

The race to get on the November ballot for Los Angeles mayor continues, with a new round of election results shared early Friday evening. It appears Nithya Raman is slowly closing the gap with Spencer Pratt.

In the latest data, 71% of the expected votes have been counted. Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass still leads the pack at 35%, followed by Pratt at 28.2% and Raman at 24.9%.

On election night, there was about a 10% gap between Pratt and Raman, but as more results have come in throughout the week, the gap has shrunk. As of Friday evening, there is a less than 4% gap between the two candidates.

ABC News projected Bass would advance to the November runoff on election night. ABC News has not yet projected who Bass' opponent will be in the November election.

Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the general election in the California gubernatorial race, the Associated Press projects.

Democrat Xavier Becerra has advanced to the general election for California governor after pitching himself as an experienced choice to lead the nation's most populous state, AP News projects.

In a new drop of election results on Friday evening, Becerra took the lead over Republican Steve Hilton. In the latest totals, Becerra has 26.7% of the vote, and Hilton has 26.4% of the vote. Tom Steyer is in third with 21% of the vote.

In the latest update on Friday evening, 65% of the expected votes had been counted.

AP has not yet projected which candidate Becerra will face.

Becerra leaned on his more than 35 years in public office - including as state attorney general and U.S. health secretary - to argue that he was the most qualified candidate in a crowded field.

"I am ready to lead the fight to uphold California's promise to make sure we have the governance worthy of our gifts," he said on election night.

Once an afterthought in the race, he surged in the final months and vowed he would maintain the state's mantle as a chief antagonist to President Donald Trump.

AP News contributed to this report.

The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles said Friday there are "multiple election fraud investigations underway" but did not give any information or specifics.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in an X post that his office is working with Harmeet Dhillon, the Department of Justice's assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, "to conduct a comprehensive audit of California's voter rolls."

"We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent," he said adding that the state allegedly "stonewalled every effort to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registered to vote."

The top federal prosecutor in L.A. said Friday there are "multiple election fraud investigations underway" but did not provide any specifics.

The Department of Justice has long said that California has issues with its voter rolls, and that investigations are underway. It isn't clear if there is any evidence to support this, and the DOJ has not provided evidence of fraud.

Friday morning, assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Renner was at L.A. County's vote counting facility in the City of industry. A representative from Attorney General Rob Bonta's office was also there.

Meanwhile, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to mobilize state resources.

"We need sensible elections in California. Mail-in ballots must arrive by Election Day if they're going to be counted. Mail-in ballots can only be offered by request as it used to be. You shouldn't be sending out mail-in ballots to everyone," Hilton said.

Hilton's plan also would create regional election surge teams that could quickly be deployed to counties with the largest backlogs.

ABC News contributed to this report.