Spencer Pratt, who gained notoriety as the antagonist on MTV’s reality series “The Hills” for allegedly creating drama between his girlfriend and her close friend, is now positioning himself as Los Angeles’ potential savior.
The former reality TV personality has launched a mayoral campaign for the nation’s second-largest city, vowing to eliminate what he calls chaos and poor governance plaguing Los Angeles.
What initially seemed like a publicity stunt has transformed into a serious challenge to the established political order, with Pratt gaining significant traction as early voting begins before the June 2 primary. The GOP candidate has generated substantial attention through viral social media content that criticizes current Mayor Karen Bass, Governor Gavin Newsom, and other Democratic leaders.
Pratt’s strategy centers on securing enough support to advance to a November general election matchup against Bass, the Democratic incumbent who has faced harsh criticism for her handling of last year’s catastrophic wildfire crisis.
While Republicans haven’t won the mayor’s office since 1997, Pratt managed to earn a spot alongside just two other candidates – Bass and progressive Councilwoman Nithya Raman – in last week’s televised debate.
“As crazy as this will sound, I’m the adult in the room,” Pratt declared during the forum.
The candidate and his team are pursuing a grassroots strategy that focuses on residents’ daily struggles in Los Angeles, using stark images of drug addiction and homeless camps throughout the nearly 4-million-person metropolis.
Pratt directly blames Democratic officials for the city’s problems and promises to “stop these corrupt politicians from destroying our city.” His platform includes aggressive measures against homelessness, including clearing all encampments and launching criminal probes into nonprofits that provide services to people living on the streets.
“These people do not want a bed,” he stated during the recent debate. “They want fentanyl or meth.”
The 43-year-old officially entered the race in January during a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the devastating Palisades Fire, which destroyed his residence along with thousands of other homes.
A recent campaign advertisement shows Pratt visiting the comfortable neighborhoods where Bass and Raman reside, then contrasting those areas with an Airstream trailer on a cleared lot where he claims to be living following his home’s destruction.
“They let my home burn down,” Pratt states in the commercial. “I know what the consequences of failed leadership are.”
Recent weeks have seen a collection of artificially-generated viral videos depicting Pratt as Los Angeles’ potential rescuer from ineffective Democrats and radical activists.
One particularly popular video shows Pratt as Batman rescuing a dystopian version of Los Angeles from Bass, who appears as the villainous Joker character.
Former Florida Governor and presidential candidate Jeb Bush praised it as “maybe the best political ad of the year” in a social media post.
Filmmaker Charles Curran has shared these videos and others across social platforms, with Pratt redistributing them through his own channels. Curran has not responded to media inquiries.
“He’s playing on the most powerful emotion, which is anger, and LA voters are angry right now,” explained Matt Klink, a Los Angeles-based Republican political consultant.
Pratt has extensive experience creating buzz and entertainment content.
He initially became famous in 2007 as Heidi Montag’s partner on “The Hills,” a popular reality program following young women navigating adulthood in Southern California. The show depicted him as causing problems between Montag and her roommate Lauren Conrad, ultimately destroying their friendship.
Pratt and Montag eventually married and have two children. Since “The Hills” concluded in 2010, both have participated in various scripted and reality television programs, with each maintaining over 1 million social media followers.
Pratt cites his 2013 political science degree from the University of Southern California as proof of his qualifications to lead such a large city.
His campaign team has declined interview requests.
Bass, who became the first Black woman to lead Los Angeles, remains a vulnerable incumbent still dealing with wildfire aftermath and broader dissatisfaction with municipal government.
She was conducting diplomatic work in Ghana when the fires began devastating her city, sparking intense criticism. Her administration also faced accusations of diluting a fire department review report, which she disputes.
Nevertheless, Bass maintains strong support from the Democratic establishment, including most of the city’s influential labor organizations. A coalition of unions is financing advertising attacks against Pratt that appear designed to boost his appeal among Republicans while helping him surpass Bass’s progressive opponents – potentially betting he would be easier to defeat in November.
Pratt’s growing prominence disrupts a race that recently appeared likely to feature Bass against a challenger from her political left rather than right.
“I feel like he’s exploiting the grief of people in the Palisades, and I think that’s reprehensible. That’s the main thing. And I think he is about his own celebrity. He’s famous now again,” Bass told Fox News recently.
Pratt has conducted an entertaining and creative campaign that has successfully converted his celebrity status into political attention – the essential currency of politics – similar to Donald Trump and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s previous efforts, according to Michael Trujillo, a Los Angeles Democratic strategist. He believes this positions Pratt well to advance past the initial voting round and face Bass in a head-to-head runoff.
However, Pratt must eventually confront a challenging reality as a Republican candidate in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.
“Not to diminish the creativity and imagination that they’re putting into their campaign, but they’re going to run into a big math problem,” Trujillo noted.
