Reality TV Star Spencer Pratt Surges in Los Angeles Mayor's Race as Bass Fights for a Second Term

Los Angeles voters went to the polls Tuesday in a mayoral primary that has taken an improbable turn, with reality television personality and online influencer Spencer Pratt mounting a surging, Trump-endorsed challenge to incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in one of the most Democratic big cities in the country.

Pratt, best known for the reality series "The Hills," vaulted into the race on a wave of anger over public safety and homelessness, channeling frustration he says crystallized after he lost his home in the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. President Trump has embraced him, describing Pratt as a "big MAGA person," and the candidate has leaned into a law-and-order message aimed squarely at residents who feel the city has become unsafe.

"Moms are getting me elected. Moms do not feel safe in Los Angeles," Pratt told supporters at a recent campaign block party. "The drug dealers, they're safe. Everyone else is not safe in LA." The pitch has resonated enough to make a longtime entertainment figure a genuine factor in a race that the city's political establishment expected Bass to control.

Bass, a former congresswoman elected in 2022, is seeking a second term while defending her record on the wildfire response and a homelessness crisis that has defined her tenure. She has assembled a deep roster of Democratic endorsements, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Challenging Bass from the left is City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a progressive who has argued the mayor has not moved aggressively enough on housing and tenant protections.

Los Angeles uses a nonpartisan primary: if no candidate clears 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers advance to a November runoff regardless of party. That math creates a plausible path for Pratt to reach the general election simply by consolidating the city's frustrated and conservative-leaning voters while Bass and Raman divide the Democratic majority.

Pratt's rise has alarmed Democratic operatives who once dismissed his bid as a publicity stunt, and it reflects a broader national pattern in which celebrity candidates and online influencers have converted media followings into real political momentum. His campaign has blanketed social media with short videos hammering Bass over crime statistics and encampments, while critics have accused him of trafficking in fear and offering few concrete policy plans beyond his promise to make the city "safe" again.

The mayoral contest unfolded alongside California's marquee gubernatorial primary and races in five other states, but the spectacle of a reality-TV provocateur threatening to upend City Hall drew outsized national attention. Polls closed at 8 p.m. Pacific time, and if the field splinters as expected, the result could be a runoff that keeps an unlikely insurgent campaign alive into the fall.