I actually love when the celebrities attack me because then I'm like, oh, I am doing so well.
In a city long accustomed to spectacle, a former reality television personality has transformed personal grievance and civic frustration into a surprisingly viable mayoral campaign. Spencer Pratt, running in Los Angeles's June 2 primary, has outraised his rivals and polled at 22 percent by positioning himself as the candidate of observable truth — the man who simply asks voters to look around. His campaign raises an enduring question about democratic life: whether authenticity, even when performed, can outrun the weight of institutional incumbency.
- Pratt has raised more money than both the incumbent mayor and her progressive rival, turning viral antagonism into a genuine financial and polling threat in America's second-largest city.
- His campaign thrives on contradiction — a self-identified Republican whose supporters are reportedly all Democrats, a celebrity who rejects celebrity endorsements while quietly collecting them.
- He has made the January 2025 fires and the homelessness crisis his twin battering rams, blaming Mayor Bass directly for a $17 million fire department budget cut made while she was abroad.
- A credibility gap has emerged: Pratt claimed to be living in a trailer after his home burned, but reports placed him at the Bel-Air Hotel — a detail that passed without scrutiny in his media appearances.
- With Bass at 26 percent, Raman at 25 percent, and Pratt at 22 percent, the June 2 primary will determine whether outrage and momentum can close a four-point gap against an entrenched incumbent.
Spencer Pratt appeared on Fox News Thursday to discuss his Los Angeles mayoral run, and he made a point of distancing himself from the celebrity world he once inhabited. He said he wanted no endorsements except from mothers and animal lovers — a striking declaration for someone whose campaign had already drawn support from Paris Hilton, Dennis Quaid, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, and others. He claimed private backing from Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx as well, though neither had said so publicly. The celebrity attacks, he argued, were actually a sign he was winning.
The campaign had real momentum behind it. Pratt had outraised both incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and progressive council member Nithya Raman, funding an aggressive advertising blitz that cast him as the candidate of common sense in a city he believed had been failed by a decade of Democratic leadership. A UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll showed Bass at 26 percent, Raman at 25 percent, and Pratt at 22 percent — a remarkable position for someone who entered the race only in January.
His message was built around two crises: homelessness and the January 2025 fires that destroyed neighborhoods including Pacific Palisades. On the fires, he dismissed accounts of extreme wind conditions as fabrication and placed blame squarely on Bass, who he said had cut the fire department's budget by $17 million while traveling abroad. On homelessness, he described the street conditions in visceral terms and promised to redirect public funds toward mandatory addiction treatment for fentanyl and methamphetamine users.
One detail in his narrative had attracted scrutiny. Pratt had said he was living in a trailer after his $3.8 million home burned in the fires, presenting himself as a fellow victim of the disaster. Later reporting suggested he had in fact been staying at the Bel-Air Hotel. The discrepancy went unexamined during his television appearance. The June 2 primary will test whether his insurgent energy can close the gap — and whether the contradictions in his story will matter to the voters he is counting on.
Spencer Pratt sat down with Greg Gutfeld on Thursday to talk about his Los Angeles mayoral campaign, and he wanted to be clear about one thing: he didn't need celebrities telling people to vote for him. In fact, he said, he preferred they didn't. "I actually don't want celebrities to come out and endorse me," Pratt told the host. "I don't want anybody to endorse me except for the moms and the animal lovers in LA. That's my entire vote."
It was a curious position for a former reality television personality to stake out, especially given that his campaign had already attracted support from Paris Hilton, Dennis Quaid, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, Katharine McPhee, and David Foster, among others. Pratt had also claimed that Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx had privately endorsed him, though neither had done so publicly. Yet Pratt seemed unbothered by the celebrity backing. "I'm cool if no celebrity ever endorses me," he said. "I actually love when the celebrities attack me because then I'm like, oh, I am doing so well." The attacks, in his view, were proof he was resonating with the people who mattered.
His campaign was certainly resonating with voters in some form. Pratt's bid for mayor had hauled in millions of dollars, outpacing the fundraising of his two main rivals: incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and progressive city council member Nithya Raman. The money had fueled an aggressive, viral advertising strategy that positioned Pratt as the candidate of common sense in a city he believed had lost its way. A UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll showed Bass leading with 26 percent of likely voters, Raman at 25 percent, and Pratt at 22 percent—a respectable showing for someone who had announced his candidacy only months earlier in January.
Pratt's pitch to Los Angeles voters was blunt and visual. He called himself the "look around" candidate, arguing that anyone who opened their eyes could see the failures of the city's Democratic leadership. "You look around and see with your own eyes what I'm saying, and it's true," he said. "And that's why I'm gonna win, because my opponents just lie, and they've had 10 years combined that they've created everything that they are looking around and seeing." Despite identifying as a Republican, Pratt claimed that all of his supporters were Democrats, framing his campaign as one rooted in practical problem-solving rather than partisan ideology.
His two main targets were the city's homelessness crisis and the response to the January 2025 fires that had devastated neighborhoods like Pacific Palisades. Pratt had announced his run with a focus on what he saw as Bass's failures in managing both crises. On the fires, he was particularly pointed. He argued that some voters had convinced themselves the blazes were caused by climate change and extreme winds, when in fact the real culprit was Bass's decision to defund the fire department by $17 million while she was out of the country in Ghana. The Los Angeles Fire Department recorded wind gusts as high as 86 miles per hour during the fires, with sustained winds frequently reaching 40 miles per hour, but Pratt dismissed these as "imaginary hurricane winds that did not exist."
On homelessness, Pratt's language was raw and unfiltered. He described the crisis as a "horror movie" and spoke of people "having to step over the naked drug addicts and step into human poop to get their $20 matcha." He promised that his administration would redirect tax money that Bass and Raman had allegedly "stolen" toward mandatory medical treatment for people struggling with addiction to fentanyl and methamphetamine. "They need help to get off fentanyl and super meth," he said, positioning treatment as the solution rather than simply providing shelter.
There was a small contradiction in Pratt's narrative that had drawn attention from news outlets. He had claimed to be living in a trailer after his $3.8 million Pacific Palisades home burned down in the fires, a detail that suggested he was sharing in the suffering of other fire victims. Later reporting, however, indicated he had actually been staying at the Bel-Air Hotel. The discrepancy went unaddressed in his appearance on Gutfeld.
The primary election was set for June 2, and Pratt's campaign had positioned itself as the insurgent force in a race where the incumbent and a progressive challenger had long been seen as the frontrunners. Whether his strategy of viral antagonism and appeals to frustrated voters could overcome Bass's polling lead remained to be seen.
Notable Quotes
I don't want anybody to endorse me except for the moms and the animal lovers in LA. That's my entire vote.— Spencer Pratt
My campaign now, how I identify, besides being the common sense American, is the 'look around' candidate.— Spencer Pratt
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Pratt keep saying he doesn't want celebrity endorsements when he's clearly got them?
Because the endorsements he's getting aren't from the celebrities he thinks matter. He wants to be seen as the candidate of ordinary people—moms, animal lovers—not Hollywood. The celebrity support is almost beside the point to him. What he really wants is for people to see him as outside the system.
But he's a reality TV star. How is he outside the system?
That's the paradox he's banking on. He's famous, but he's not a politician. He's not part of the Democratic establishment that's been running LA. In his mind, that makes him an outsider even if he's not actually outside celebrity culture.
The wind speeds during the fires were measured at 86 miles per hour. Why does he keep calling them imaginary?
Because the narrative he's selling requires that Bass be solely responsible for the fires. If the winds were genuinely extreme, it complicates that story. It becomes less about her failures and more about a natural disaster. He needs the fires to be a pure failure of leadership.
He claimed to live in a trailer but was actually at the Bel-Air Hotel. Does that matter?
It matters because it suggests he's not actually experiencing what the people he's appealing to are experiencing. He's performing solidarity with fire victims while staying in a luxury hotel. It's a crack in the authenticity he's trying to project.
Why is he polling at 22 percent if he's so focused on things people care about?
He might be hitting a ceiling. Bass still leads, and Raman is close behind. His aggressive, viral approach gets attention, but it hasn't yet convinced a majority of voters that he's the answer. The primary will tell us whether his strategy actually moves people or just generates noise.
What's the "look around" candidate actually promising?
He's promising that if you just pay attention to what's happening on the streets—the homelessness, the disorder—you'll see that the current leadership has failed. His solution is mandatory treatment for addiction and a different approach to city management. It's simple, maybe too simple, but it resonates with people who feel the city is broken.