LA Mayor Karen Bass Is Losing Ground to Spencer Pratt, a Reality TV Star. And That’s A Good Thing.
I've spent my adult life in LA, and I'm watching it decay. The June 2nd mayoral race is the clearest signal yet of where this city — and this state — is headed.
I’ve lived in LA for close to 12 years. I’m frustrated with the direction it’s going. I want to be upfront about that bias, so you can read this through that lens.
My frustration with LA’s leadership is also why I’m excited about what’s going on with the LA mayoral election.
Honestly, not because of Spencer Pratt as a candidate - I haven’t researched his policy positions deeply enough yet to endorse him.
And I’m not excited because he’s a Republican either.
I’d happily vote for a competent, authentic, sensible Democrat.
I’m just tired of the same empty suits.
Karen Bass is a carbon copy of every other machine politician we keep electing in California - polished, scripted, unimpressive.
I am excited that Pratt is a real threat to the political establishment that’s overseen this city’s decline.
I am excited that in a one-party city, in a one-party county, in a one-party state, we’re getting a healthy check that can bring some balance.
I love Los Angeles. I’ve spent my adult life there. As I write this, I’m in Medellín, Colombia. And I’m seriously considering leaving LA because it’s decaying under poor management.
The crazy property prices caused by regulations. The filth. The homelessness that just keeps growing despite billions of dollars being thrown at it every year.
And people’s complacency with it all.
LA’s star is falling.
So in Spencer Pratt’s candidacy, I see the possibility of radical change. He’s real. He’s honest. He understands the frustration of Angelenos who love this city and are exhausted from watching it be neglected.
That alone is exciting. Whether he’s the right answer is a separate question.
What I want to do in this piece is explain how we got here. How a former reality TV villain with no political experience is polling only 8 points behind an incumbent mayor in a Democratic city, what that says about California, and what the data shows so you can decide for yourself.
The Spencer Pratt Story
In 2007, Spencer Pratt was the villain on MTV’s The Hills. He played the heel on a scripted reality show. He earned roughly $10 million over the show’s run. He spent most of it - $4,000 bottles of wine, $30,000 shopping sprees, a $1 million crystal collection.
Not the best résumé for a mayor.
Then, on January 7, 2025, the Palisades Fire destroyed his home. His parents’ home burned the same day. He watched on his security cameras while live-streaming the destruction. He lost everything he owned. The Palisades Fire became the third-most destructive wildfire in California history. Twelve people died, and more than 6,800 structures were destroyed.
Two weeks later, Pratt joined a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and the Department of Water and Power, along with 20 other property owners, alleging the city’s failures turned a fire into a catastrophe.
Then he spent all of 2025 building a social media audience around one question: how did this happen, and who’s accountable?
On January 7, 2026 - exactly one year after the fire - he announced his mayoral campaign at a “They Let Us Burn” rally in the Palisades.
Standing near the ruins of his home, he said: “Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles.”
Five months later, he’s polling at 22% in a May 14 Emerson College poll. He’s 8 points behind Karen Bass and just ahead of City Councilmember and Democratic Socialist Nithya Raman.
He has more than doubled his support since March.
He’s drawing seven-figure checks from people like hedge fund billionaire Dan Loeb, former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, NYSE chairman Jeffrey Sprecher, Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, Tinder founder Sean Rad, and the Winklevoss twins. Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is a personal donor.
Pratt is a registered Republican, and LA hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1993.
Why He’s Winning
Pratt is resonating because he’s real.
He doesn’t speak like a politician. He speaks like someone who lives in LA and has suffered - because he is.
That story alone would be a competitive advantage.
But Pratt has another one: he understands social media the way other populist candidates - Mamdani, Trump before him - also have.
His recent viral ad shows it perfectly. He’s not in a studio. He’s not behind a podium. He’s walking the streets of LA, showing what most politicians refuse to acknowledge - the homeless encampments, the trash, the decay. The stuff every Angeleno sees every day on their commute, while the political class tells us things are improving.
The Bigger Picture
That’s what’s visible. Now let me show you what’s not.
And it’s bigger than LA.
Spencer Pratt isn’t running against just Karen Bass. He’s running against Nithya Raman too - a documented Democratic Socialists of America member.
And Raman isn’t a lone candidate. She’s part of a coordinated political movement that has been building in Los Angeles for six years, has its own slate of six candidates for 2026, and whose leadership is openly stating - on the record - that LA is a building block toward a democratic socialist presidential candidate in 2028.
Quite literally, a socialist takeover of America.
What’s in the Paid Section
In the paid section below, I go deeper on:
The personal story of how I first learned about the LA socialist takeover - and why I dismissed it at first
What “socialism” actually means, why Denmark isn’t it, and what the Danish Prime Minister wishes Americans understood
The DSA-LA “Shake Up City Hall” slate - the documented plan to take over LA legislatively, with the on-the-record quote from their own co-chair about building toward 2028
How the LA story connects to the national pattern - and why most LA voters going to the polls on June 2nd don’t realize what’s actually on the ballot
